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PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 
SERIES  IN  ROMANIC  LANGUAGES  AND  LITERATURES.  No.  6 


r 


THE  LITERARY  RELATIONS 


BETWEEN 


LA   FONTAINE   AND    THE   ''ASTREE" 
OF  HONORE  D'  URFE 


WALTHER  P.  FISCHER 


a  dissertation  presented  to  the 
Faculty  of  the  Department  of  Philosophy 

OF  THE 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

IN  partial  fulfilment  of  the  requirements  for  the 

degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy 


PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


DR.  HUGO  ALBERT  RENNERT 

PROFESSOR  OF  ROM  \NIC   LANGUAGES  IN 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

I  GRATEFULLY  DEDICATE 

THIS  VOLUME 


PREFACE. 

In  the  following  study  I  propose  to  deal  with  the  literary 
relations  between  Honore  d'Urfe's  famous  pastoral  novel 
Astree  and  La  Fontaine.  The  subject  naturally  falls  into 
two  main  parts.  After  a  brief  introduction  on  the  Astree 
and  its  influence  during  the  seventeenth  century,  I  examine, 
first,  the  different  short  passages  in  which  La  Fontame 
himself  refers  to  the  Astree  or  its  characters.  Then  fol- 
lows a  detailed  study  of  his  "  tragedie  lyrique  "  Astree, 
and  a  discussion  of  a  remark  in  Olivet's  Histoire  de  I'Aca- 
demie  Francaise,  in  which  a  direct  influence  of  the  Astree 
on  La  Fontaine  is  assumed.  These  chapters  form  what 
might  be  called  the  external  evidence  for  the  existence  of 
literary  relations  between  Urfe  and  La  Fontaine. 

The  second  part  comprises  what  we  might  correspond- 
ingly term  internal  evidence.  In  this  are  successively  ex- 
amined the  fables,  the  Contes  and  the  novel  Les  amours  de 
Psyche  et  de  Cupid  on,  with  occasional  references  to  minor 
works,  like  the  Songe  de  Vaux,  and  the  leading  ideas  of 
these  works  are  compared  with  Urfe's  views  on  correspond- 
ing subjects.  Thus,  in  the  chapter  on  the  fables,  the  more 
personal  elements  in  our  poets  are  discussed,  especially 
their  feeling  for  nature  and  their  longing  for  a  quiet  life; 
under  the  heading  of  the  Contes  their  theories  on  love  are 
compared,  and  a  special  study  is  made  of  La  fiancee  du  roi 
de  Garbe,  which  I  consider  as  a  parody  on  certain  motives 
of  the  pastoral  and  chivalrous  romances.  Les  amours  de 
Psyche,  finally,  offers  an  opportunity  to  study  La  Fon- 
taine's and  Urfe's  theories  on  the  fine  arts,  and  to  point 
out  a  few  noteworthy  similarities  in  certain  episodes. 


VI 


PREFACE 


In  this  second  part,  it  has  been  difficult  to  draw  a  line 
between  conscious  borrowings  and  mere  coincidences; 
Urfe  himself  points  out,  in  his  charming,  old-fashioned 
style:  "  Bien  souuent  diuerses  personnes  tombent  en  vn 
mesme  sujet,  sur  vne  mesme  conception."  The  question  is 
further  complicated  by  another  fact  to  which  perhaps  suffi- 
cient attention  is  not  always  given,  namely  the  very  large 
part  that  preciosity  plays  in  La  Fontaine,  especially  in  his 
minor  works.  It  is  here  that  the  independent  fabulist 
shows  the  influence  of  his  age.  This  current  of  preciosity 
with  its  abundant  development  during  the  preceding  two 
generations  makes  the  task  singularly  complicated.  There 
is  always  the  danger  of  ascribing  to  the  influence  of  one 
work  of  the  beginning  of  the  century  what  La  Fontaine 
might  have  found  among  his  contemporaries.  Moreover, 
a  good  many  of  the  ideas  and  theories  discussed  belong 
to  the  literary  commonplaces  and  conventions  of  all  ages 
and  are  especially  frequent  in  Italian  literature,  so  familiar 
to  La  Fontaine.  These  considerations  led  me  to  the  form 
of  presentation  which  is  here  finally  adopted:  that  of  a 
comparison  rather  than  of  a  study  of  direct  influence,  and 
only  in  a  few  cases  have  I  ventured  to  treat  similarities  as 
actual  borrowings. 

By  way  of  conclusion  the  results  of  the  preceding  com- 
parison were  grouped  chronologically. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  acknowledge  my  obligations  to  Dr.  Jules 
Simon,  of  the  University  of  Munich,  who  suggested  the 
subject  of  this  thesis  and  to  whose  constant  interest  in  its 
completion  I  owe  a  great  deal.  From  Professor  Adolphe 
Cohn  and  Professor  H.  A.  Todd,  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, I  also  received  most  kindly  aid  while  holding  a 
Special  Fellowship  in  Romance  Languages  at  that  Uni- 
versity. I  am  particularly  indebted  to  Professor  Hugo  A. 
Rennert  and  Dr.  J.  P.  Wickersham  Crawford,  of  the  Uni- 


PREFACE 


Vll 


versity  of  Pennsylvania,  for  their  continued  assistance  and 
for  many  valuable  suggestions  and  corrections,  both  in  sub- 
stance and  in  form.  Finally  I  wish  to  express  my  thanks 
to  the  library  of  Yale  University,  which  most  generously 
granted  me  the  prolonged  use  of  one  of  its  complete 
editions  of  the  Astree. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Preface i 

CHAPTER  I 

Introduction i 

The  Astrie  and  its  vogue  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

CHAPTER  II 

La  Fontaine's  Allusions  TO  THE  "Astree"   5 

The  Ballade  des  livres  d' amour — The  dissertation  on  the 
Astree  in  Les  Amours  de  Psycht  et  de  Cupidon—Tht  ballad  :  Oti 
aim.e  encor  com,nie  on  aimait  jadis  -  Contes  :  Les  amis  Rhnois 
and  Le  cas  de  conscience— The  Ballet  sur  la  Patx  de  Nimigue — 
The  Epttre  d,  Htiet. 

CHAPTER  III 

La  Fontaine's  Opera  "  Astree" i6 

Its  composition — Its  plot  compared  with  Urfe's  novel — Its  lit- 
erary merit. 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Statement  of  the  Abbe  d'Olivet  in  his    "  Histoire  de 

l'  Academie  Francaise  "    33 

CHAPTER  V 

La  Fontaine's  Fables    27 

The  fable  in  the  Astree— The  real  and  the  conventional  shep- 
herd in  La  Fontaine's  fables  as  compared  with  the  Astree— The 
personal  element :  Les  deux  pigeons  and  the  preface  to  the  first 
part  of  the  Astree— FeeWng  for  nature  :  independently  expressed 
by  each  poet  ;  Urfe  as  a  landscape  painter  ;  nature  in  accord  with 
human  moods— Longing  for  quiet  life  ;  identity  of  inspiration- 
Conclusion  :  the  public  of  both  the  Astree  and  of  the  Fables  not 
insensible  to  the  charms  of  nature. 


X  COXTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  VI 

La  Fontaine's  "Contes" 58 

Fundamental  difference  between  the  Contes  and  the  Astree— 
A  few  commonp\a.ces— The  FlancS:;  du  roi  de  G-'arZ-^  considered 
as  a  burlesque  of  chivalrous  and  pastoral  romances. 

CHAPTER    Vn 

"  Les  Amours  de  Psyche  et  de  Cupidon  " 73 

Significance  of  the  Cjpid  and  Psyche  mj'th — La  Fontaine's 
attitude  toward  t'e  myth:  the  '"style  galant " — Descriptions  of 
art  in  PsychS  and  in  the  Astree :  architecture  and  painting  ;  Urfe 
as  an  art  critic  and  observer  of  nature  ;  the  notion  of  color  in 
La  Fontaine  and  Urfe  The  description  of  physical  beauty  ;  pas- 
sages of  Psycht.  Le  Songe  de  Vaux  and  Clymine  compared  with 
parallel  scenes  ot  the  Astree— T\\t  episode  of  the  fisherman 
{PsychL  book  H)  a  reminiscence  of  the  Astree,  or  an  echo  of 
Ariosto  and  Tasso  ? — Minor  similarities. 

CHAPTER  VII 
Conclusion 95 

Index 98 


THE   LITERARY   RELATIONS    BETWEEN 

LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTREE" 

OF  HONORE  D'  URFK 


CHAPTER  I. 
Introduction. 

The  Astree   and   its  Vogue  in   the    Seventeenth   Century. 

The  severe  critic  Chapelain,  in  a  letter  addressed  to 
"  M.  Gruterus,  Moderateiir  du  College  firasmien  de  Roter- 
dam  ",  who  had  asked  him  for  advice  concerning  which 
novels  he  should  read,  praises  Honore  d'Urfe's  famous 
pastoral  novel  in  the  following  manner :  "  Nos  modernes 
Fran(;ais  se  sont  signales  dans  les  romans  en  prose,  &  entre 
plusieurs,  Monsieur  d'Urfe,  dans  V Astree,  laquelle  a  este  le 
premier  roman  en  ordre  &  le  premier  en  merite  propre  a 
estre  leu  mesme  par  les  sgavans."  ^ 

Published  in  five  instalments,  from  1607-1628,  the  Astree 
became  popular  at  once  and  enjoyed,  perhaps,  a  greater 
success  than  any  literary  work  in  France  had  ever 
achieved.  Considerably  later  in  date  than  the  chief  Italian 
and  Spanish  pastorals,  it  could  harbor  in  its  ponderous  vol- 
umes all  the  characteristics  of  its  foreign  predecessors, — the 
glow  of  passion  of  a  Diana,  as  well  as  the  divine  serenity 

1  Lettres  de  Chapelain,  ed.  Tamizy  de  Larroque,  Paris,  1880,  Vol.  II, 
p.  542.  It  is  noteworthy  that  in  the  Catalogue  de  tous  les  livres  de  feu 
M.  Chape'ain  (ed.  C.  Searles,  Stanford  University,  1912)  not  a  single 
work  of  Urfe  is  listed. 

I 


2  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E  " 

of  an  Aminta.  \\'ithal  it  was  enriched  with  new,  distinctive 
traits;  erudite  archeological  details,  contemporary  gossip, 
and,  above  all,  that  one  character  which,  to  this  very  day, 
makes  the  Astree  worth  reading,  Hylas,  the  unfaithful 
shepherd,  the  incarnation  of  the  ''  spirit  that  denies." 

Aside  from  its  literary  merit,  the  Astree,  as  has  often 
been  pointed  out,  was  indeed  a  timely  publication.  After 
decades  of  disastrous  civil  warfare.  Henry  IV  had  suc- 
ceeded in  pacifying  the  country;  and  it  is  certainly  not  by 
mere  chance  that  Urfe  gave  his  heroine  the  name  of  the 
goddess  of  peace :  Astraea !  ^  And  although  war  is  not  un- 
known in  the  idyllic  valley  of  the  Lignon  and  the  shep- 
herds of  the  Forez,  when  necessary,  bravely  face  the  attacks 
of  the  enemy,  the  longing  for  peace  and  tranquillity — 
a  commonplace  in  all  pastorals — found  an  especially  poetic 
expression  in  the  Astree,  and  a  decidedly  sympathetic  echo 
in  the  hearts  of  the  readers  of  the  time. 

The  influence,  direct  or  indirect,  exerted  by  Urfe's  novel 
on  society  and  literature  is  a  most  fascinating  chapter  in 
the  literary  history  of  France  during  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. Mr.  O.  C.  Reure.  in  his  excellent  book  on  the  life 
and  works  of  Honore  d'Urfe,  has  given  especial  attention 
to  this  problem,  and  for  all  details  the  reader  may  be  re- 
ferred to  the  vast  amount  of  material  collected  by  him.^ 
Let  us  only  add  another  fact  which  well  shows  how  deeply 
the  fashionable  world  with  its  fickle  tastes  was  affected  by 
the  novel:  Somaize's  Dictionnaire  des  Precieiix,  published 
in   1660  under  the  strongest  influence  of  later  salons,  in 

^  In  this  connection  a  curious  coincidence  may  be  noted :  as  early  as 
1591  (the  date  of  the  dedicatory  epis'le)  an  Italian  poet,  Giovanni  Villi- 
franchi,  had  written  an  Astrea,  favola  pastorale.  This  second-rate 
pastoral,  composed  in  avowed  emulation  of  Tasso's  Amitita,  has  no 
relation  to  Urfe's  work.     Cf.  the  edition  of  Venice,  1594. 

2  La  Vie  et  les  CEuvres  de  Honore  d'Urfe,  Paris,  1910.  See  esp. 
chapters  XV.  and  XVI.,  L'iuHuence  and  la  fortune  de  I'Astree. 


INTRODUCTION  3 

which  Mile,  de  Scudery  was  the  author  most  admired,  still 
contains  at  least  ten  names  or  designations  which  come  di- 
rectly from  the  Astree.^ 

In  the  literature  of  the  seventeenth  century,  allusions  to 
the  Astrce  and  its  principal  characters  are  exceedingly  fre- 
quent, especially  among  the  minor  authors.^  In  the  great 
classics  such  allusions  are  less  numerous.  Corneille  refers 
to  Urfe's  novel  only  once,  in  a  charming  scene  of  the  Suite 
du  menteiir,^  while  Boileau  praises  it  in  the  dissertation 
which  precedes  his  dialogue  Les  heros  de  roman.*  Racine 
mentions  the  Astree  merely  incidentally,^  and  Moliere,  in 
the  Bourgeois  gentilhomme,  alludes  only  to  pastoral  poetry 
in  general. 

1  They  are :  Belinda  (=  Astree,  part  I,  book  10,  p.  702,  in  the  first 
general  edition  of  1632-33,  to  which  we  refer  in  all  quotations  for  parts 
I-IV;  for  part  V,  we  used  the  edition  of  1647);  Filonte  (=  Fih'nte 
in  Astr.,  IV,  6,  p.  500)  ;  Florice  {Astr.,  II,  4,  p.  223)  ;  Ligdamon 
(Astr.,  I,  3,  p.  55,  and  I,  11,  p.  769)  ;  Madonte  (Astr.,  II,  6,  p.  371)  ; 
Rosenire  (Astr.,  IV,  10,  p.  998  =  Rosanire)  ;  Sigismond  (Astr.,  IV, 
7,  p.  610)  ;  Tircis  (Astr.,  I,  7,  p.  437)  ;  La  bonne  Deesse  (passim)  ; 
Pretresse  d'un  temple  de  vestalles  (passim).  Curiously  enough, 
neither  the  Astree  nor  Urfe  is  mentioned  by  Somaize,  and  in  the  first 
Epostille,  dealing  with  the  precieux  of  Milet  (=  Lyons),  we  do  not 
find  a  single  name  suggesting  Urfe's  pastoral.  Cf.  Dictionnaire.  .  .  . 
ed.  Livet,  Paris,  1858,  2  vols. 

'  Cf.  Reure,  /.  c.  p.  282  and  p.  306. 

'  Cf.  W.  Fischer,  Corneille's  allusion  to  the  Astree  in  his  "Suite  du 
menteur,"  in  Modern  Language  Notes,  xxvii,  p.  94. 

*  Cf.  Reure,  /.  c.  p.  313;  Les  Heros  de  Roman,  ed.  Th.  F.  Crane, 
Boston,  1902,  p.  166  fif. 

^  In  his  Lettre  a  I'auteur  des  heresies  imaginaires.  He  defends  Des 
Marets  against  Nicole :  "  Ni  M.  d'Urf e,  ni  Corneille  . . .  n'etaient  res- 
ponsables  de  la  conduite  de  des  Marets."  From  the  inventory  of 
Racine's  library  it  appears  that  he  possessed  a  complete  edition  of  the 
Astree  (cf.  P.  Bonnefon,  La  Bibliothcque  de  Racine  in  Rev.  de  I'Hist. 
Litt.  de  la  France  V,  p.  184.)  The  copy,  the  first  general  edition  of 
1632-33,  passed  through  several  hands  and  is  now  in  the  possession 
of  the  Royal  Library  at  Munich;  volumes  II  and  III  bear  Racine's 
signature. 


4  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

La  Fontaine  is  the  only  great  poet  of  the  period  who 
visibly  delights  in  evoking,  time  and  again,  reminiscences 
of  the  Astree.  Although  admiration  does  not  necessarily 
mean  influence  or  imitation,  these  frequent  allusions  lead 
us — a  priori — to  the  assumption  of  a  more  or  less  intimate 
relation  between  the  two  authors,  which  we  propose  to  ex- 
amine in  the  following  pages. 


CHAPTER  11. 

La  Fontaine's  Allusions  to  the  Astree. 

The  Ba'Iade  des  Litres  d' Amour — The  Dissertation  on  the  Astree  in 
Les  Amours  de  Psyche  et  de  Cupidon — The  Ballade:  On  aime  eiicor 
comme  on  aimait  jadis — Cones:  Les  Amis  Rcmois  and  Le  Cas  de 
Conscience  —  The  Ballet  Sur  la  Paix  de  Nimcgue  —  The  Lpitre  d 
Huet. 

I. 

Among  the  passages  in  which  La  Fontaine  refers  to  the 
Astree,  the  one  occurring  in  the  Ballade  des  livres  d'amour 
(composed  before  1665)^  is  especially  famous.  It  is  La 
Fontaine's  first  homage  to  Urfe's  genius  (vv.  1-19)  : 

Hier  je  mis,  chez  Chloris,  en  train  de  discourir 
Sur  le  fait  des  romans  Alizon  la  sucree. 
"  N'est-ce  pas  grand'pitie,  dit-elle,  de  souffrir 
Que  Ton  meprise  ainsi  la  Legende  Doree, 
Tandisque  les  romans  sont  si  chere  denree? 
//  laudrait  beaucoup  mieux  qu'avec  maint  vers  du  temps 
De  Messire  Honore  I'histoire  fut  brulce." 
— Oui  pour  vous,  dit  Cloris,  qui  passez  cinquante  ans : 
Moi,  qui  n'en  ai  que  vingt,  je  pretends  que  I' Astree 
Fasse  en  nion  cabinet  encor  que.que  sejoiir; 
Car,  pour  vous  decouvrir  le  fond  de  ma  pensee, 
Je  me  plais  aux  livres  d'amour. 

Cloris  eut  quelque  tort  de  parler  si  crument; 

Non  que  Monsieur  d'Urfe  n'eut  fait  une  a:uvre  exquise: 

£tant  petit  garqon  je  lisais  son  roman, 

Et  je  le  lis  encore,  ay  ant  la  barbe  grise.^ 

Aussi  contre  Alizon  je  faillis  d'avoir  prise 

Et  sou  ins  haut  et  clair  qu' Urfe,  par-ci  par-la, 

De  prcceptes  nioraux  nous  instruit  a  sa  guise. 

'  Cf.  H.  Regnier's  edition  in  the  Grands  £crivains  de  la  France,  Vol. 
IX,  pp.  22  ff.,  and  VIII,  p.  300.  All  quotations  refer  to  this  standard 
edition. 

2  La  Fontaine  was  then  only  some  forty  years  old. 

5 


6  LA  FONTAIXE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

This  passage  is  very  important  because  of  the  criticism 
it  contains  of  the  Astree.  Urfe's  novel  appears  here  as  the 
"  livre  d'amour  "  par  excellence ;  its  author,  says  La  Fon- 
taine, "  gives  us  moral  instruction  in  his  own  way."  In- 
deed, since  the  day  of  its  appearance,  the  Astree  has  always 
been  considered  as  the  "  breviaire  de  I'honneste  amitie," 
and  as  the  "  breviaire  de  tons  les  courtisans."  ^ 

It  is  rather  amusing  to  see  how  La  Fontaine  in  his  ballad 
defends  "  haut  et  clair  "  the  morality  of  the  Astree,  while 
in  the  preface  to  the  collection  in  which  the  poem  first  ap- 
peared— the  second  reciieil  of  1665 — he  condemns  it,  im- 
plicit e,  in  his  desperate  attempt  to  defend  the  ethics  of  his 
own  Contes:  "  Cette  gaite  des  contes  passe  legerement:  je 
craindrais  plutot  une  douce  melancolie,  ou  les  romans  les 
plus  chastes  et  les  plus  modestes  sont  tres  capables  de  nous 
plonger,  et  qui  est  une  grande  preparation  pour  I'amour."  ^ 

^  Cf.  Reure,  p.  185  and  p.  276.  The  passage  in  which  Urfe's  "  pre- 
ceptes  moraux"  are  best  expounded,  is  the  preface  to  the  second  part: 
L'Authetir  au  Berger  Celadon.  He  vigorously  defends  Celadon's  old- 
fashioned  conception  of  "  aymer  a  la  vieille  Gauloise"  and  pretends 
"  que  ces  bons  vieux  Gaulois  estoient  des  personnes  sans  artifices  .  .  . 
qui  n'auoient  point  la  parole  differente  du  coeur." 

*  This  is  exactly  the  fault  which  Ch.  Perrault  finds  with  the  Astree : 
"  On  ne  peut  pas  disconvenir  que  la  lecture  n'en  soit  dangereuse,  par- 
ticulierement  pour  les  jeunes  personnes,  qui  deja  portees  d'elles-memes 
a  gouster  les  charmes  de  I'amour,  y  sont  encore  entraisnees  par  les 
exemples  qu'elles  y  voyent  de  cette  passion,  d'autant  plus  dangereuse 
qu'elle  y  est  degagee  de  toutes  sortes  d'impuretez."  Perrault,  Les 
hommes  illustres,  Paris,  1696-1700,  Vol.  II,  pp.  39-40;  now  reprinted  in 
G.  Michaut,  Gtuvres  poetiques  choisies  de  Hon.  d'Urfe,  Paris,  1909. 
La  Fontaine  himself  often  returns  to  this  thought.  The  daughters  of 
the  hospitable  old  man  in  Psyche  are  forbidden  to  read  any  kinu  of 
"  livres  d'amour",  "  comme  on  !e  faisait  alors  souvent " ;  the  success, 
however,  is  but  indifferent,  "la  nature  servant  A' Astree  (Gr.  S.cr., 
VIII,  p.  154).  Cf.  also  Coupe  enchantee  {Contes,  III,  4,  vv.  118-119); 
L'anneau  de  H.  Carvel  {ibid.,  II.  12,  vv.  9-13)  ;  Les  Amis  Remois 
(ibid..  Ill,  3,  v.  40  ff.),  and  La  Fontaine's  first  letter  to  his  wife. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  ALLUSIONS  TO  THE  "ASTR&E"         j 

II. 

There  is  another  passage  which  shows  perhaps  still  more 
clearly  La  Fontaine's  critical  attitude  towards  the  Astree. 

It  occurs  at  the  end  of  the  first  book  of  Les  amours  de 
Psyche  et  de  Cupidon  (1669),  in  the  famous  conversation 
of  the  four  literary  friends  Polyphile  (=La  Fontaine), 
Acante  (=  Racine),  Ariste  (=  Boileau),  and  Gelaste.^ 
The  topic  of  the  discussion  is  the  question  whether  tragedy 
or  comedy  is  the  nobler,  whether  it  is  preferable  to  weep  or 
to  laugh.  Acante  and  Ariste  defend  tragedy  and  tears, 
Gelaste  is  the  advocate  of  comedy  and  laughter.  Poly- 
phile, who  is  conscious  of  having  mingled  both  elements 
in  his  story  of  Psyche,  does  not  decide  in  favor  of  either 
proposition.  Among  other  arguments,  Gelaste  advances 
against  his  friend  the  following  one,  which  he  takes  from 
two  of  the  principal  characters  of  the  Astree: 

Vous  aimeriez  mieux  .  .  .  ecouter  Sylvandre  faisant  des 
plaintes,  que  d'entendre  Hylas  entretenant  agreablement  ses 
maitresses  ?  C'est  un  autre  point,  poursuivit  Ariste ;  mettez 
les  choses,  comme  vous  dites  en  pareil  degre  d'excellence,  je 
vous  repondrai  la-dessus :  Sylvandre,  apres  tout,  pourrait  faire 
de  telles  plaintes,  que  vous  les  prefereriez  vous-meme,  aux 
bons  mots  d'Hylas.  Aux  bons  mots  d'Hylas !  repartit 
Gelaste :  pensez-vous  bien  a  ce  que  vous  dites  ?  Savez-vous 
quel  homme  c'est  que  I'Hylas  de  qui  nous  parlous?  C'est  le 
veritable  heros  de  V Astree:  c'est  un  homme  plus  necessaire 
dans  le  reman  qu'une  douzaine  de  Celadons.  Avec  cela,  dit 
Ariste,  s'il  y  en  avait  deux,  ils  vous  ennuieraient ;  et  les  autres, 
en  quelque  nombre  qu'ils  soient,  ne  vous  ennuient  point. - 

^  It  remains  an  open  question  whether  Gelaste  is  Chapelle,  as  Mr. 
P.  Mesnard  thinks  in  his  Vie  de  La  Fontaine  (Gr.  £cr.,  I,  p.  XCI) 
or  whether  Moliere  is  intended,  as  the  tradition  goes.  Cf.  also  G. 
Lafenestre,  La  Fontaine,  Paris,  189S,  who  proposes  a  compromise 
(p.  81). 

*  Gr.  £cr.,  VIII,  pp.  108-109. 


8  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTRBE" 

The  attitude  assumed  in  this  passage  shows  clearly  that 
the  period  of  uncritical  admiration  for  the  Astrce  had 
passed,  and  that  in  circles  in  which  real  good  taste  reigned 
— and  where  was  it  more  likely  to  reign  than  among  our 
four  friends? — readers  had  become  conscious  of  certain 
shortcomings  of  the  book.^ 

A  first  criticism  is  directed  against  Sylvandre's  melan- 
choly complaints.  This  shepherd  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant characters  in  the  story.  The  account  of  his  birth 
is  hidden  in  mystery;  but  he  saw  much  of  the  world,  and 
received  his  instruction  "  aux  Vniuersitez  des  Massiliens 
en  la  Prouence  des  Romains."  ^  It  was  in  this  classical 
school  that  he  acquired  his  lofty  and  somewhat  incongruous 
philosophy  of  love,  fraught  with  platonic  reminiscences 
and  strangely  blended  with  chivalrous  conceptions  of  wo- 
man-worship. His  mistress  is  fair  Diane,  and  to  her  he 
addresses  most  of  the  complaints  which  Gelaste  criticises. 
Perhaps  Gelaste  is  aiming  not  so  much  at  these  complaints 
in  Sylvandre's  verses,  however  precieux  they  may  be,  but 
rather  at  his  philosophy  in  general.^ 

In  his  ideal  conceptions,  Sylvandre  is  strictly  opposed  to 
Hylas,  undoubtedly  the  wittiest  character  in  the  Astree, 
and  probably  the  best  impersonation  of  the  "  esprit  gaulois  " 
in  that  particular  period  of  French  literature.*     He  is  a 

'  As  early  as  1627  Sorel,  in  his  Berger  Extravagant,  had  attacked  the 
idealistic  novel  in  general  and  the  Astree  in  particular;  however,  in 
the  Remarques,  which  he  added  later  to  his  work,  he  practically  re- 
tracted all  that  he  had  said.     See  Reure,  pp.  308-310. 

*  Cf.  Astr.,  I,  8;  Histoire  de  Sylvandre.  and  the  entire  fifth  part. 

^  Sylvandre's  sonnets,  stances  and  plaintes  are  numerous.  For  his 
philosophical  discussions  see,  for  inst. :  Astr.,  I,  7,  p.  423  flf. ;  I,  10,  p. 
697  ff. 

*  Hylas  represents,  on  the  one  hand,  the  fickle  Galaor-type  of  the 
Amadis  novels,  on  the  other,  he  continues  the  long  tradition  of  the 
Antipeirarchismo  as  introduced  into  France  especially  by  Du  Bellay 
{cf.  Vianey,  Le  Petrarchisme  en  France  au  16^  siecle,  Montpellier, 
1909,  p.   165  fT.). 


LA  FONTAINE'S  ALLUSIONS  TO  THE  "ASTR£E"         g 

Southerner,  a  native  of  the  hot  plains  of  the  Camargue,  and 
is  the  most  unfaithful  lover  imaginable;  one  who  has  de- 
veloped his  inconstancy  into  a  regular  system/  To  us  it 
seems  that  the  oratorical  contests  between  Hylas  and  Syl- 
vandre  would  be  even  more  amusing,  if  they  were  not  so 
insufferably  long  and  were  less  frequently  marred  by  mere 
quibbling.^ 

The  fact  that  La  Fontaine  could  here,  in  a  novel  of  his 
own,  insert  this  welcome  dissertation  on  the  Astree  and 
presuppose  a  ready  understanding  and  interest  on  the  part 
of  his  readers,  is  additional  evidence  that  the  popularity  of 
Urfe's  pastoral  was  by  no  means  at  an  end,  in  spite  of  the 
above-mentioned  attacks  by  Sorel.  If  Hylas  appears  here 
as  the  principal  character  of  the  novel,  it  is  not  only  signi- 
ficant for  La  Fontaine's  conception  of  the  Astree,  but  also 
for  the  public  in  general.  Celadon's  and  Sylvandre's  idealis- 
tic philosophy  no  longer  appeals  to  the  later  generation; 
the  witty  negation  of  the  principle  in  the  person  of  Hylas, 
primarily  intended  as  a  comic  foil  for  those  lofty  ideals, 
carries  off  the  victory. 

HL 

La  Fontaine  also  mentions  the  Astree  in  the  ballad  On 
aime  encor  comme  on  aimait  jadis,  which  has  an  interesting 
history.^  Ouinault's  opera  Amadis  (1684),  in  which  the 
hero's  faithful  love  was  celebrated,  had  inspired  the  ro- 
mantic  Madame  Deshoulieres,    in   spite   of   her    forty-six 

*  Astr.,  I,  8;  Hist,  de  Parthenope,  Florice  et  Dorinde,  and  below, 
chapter  VII,  p.  21  ff.  Hylas'  story  is  told  as  an  episode  in  the  His- 
toires  of  Astr.,  I,  8;  II,  4,  and  III,  7. 

'  Astr.,  I,  8,  p.  509;  II,  4,  p.  213,  and  the  scene  of  the  "  Douze  tables 
des  lois  d' Amour  ",  II,  5,  p.  326  ff. 

3  Gr.  tier.,  IX,  p.  36  ff.,  and  Walckenaer,  H'xst.  de  la  vie  et  des  ou- 
vrages  de  La  Fontaine,  Paris,  1858,  4th  ed.,  Vol.  II,  p.  51. 


lO  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

years  and  the  fact  that  she  was  not,  according  to 
Somaize,  "  fort  sensible  a  I'amour,"  ^  to  write  a  melancholy 
ballad  in  which  she  contrasts  the  ideal  love  of  the  happy 
age  of  Amadis  with  her  own  time."  Her  arguments  re- 
semble, in  a  general  way,  those  which  Urfe  had  advanced 
in  the  above-mentioned  preface  to  the  second  part  of  the 
Astree.  This  pessimistic  view  of  contemporary  life  called 
for  a  refutation;  a  literary  quarrel  ensued,  which  makes  one 
think  of  the  glorious  days  of  the  Jobelins  and  the  Uranistes.* 
We  need  not  therefore  be  surprised  to  find  also  that  La 
Fontaine,  who  nodded  less  frequently  than  is  generally  be- 
lieved, and  who  was  always  interested  in  the  topics  of  the 
day,  entered  the  lists  and  challenged  the  peevish  precieuse^ 

^  Diet,  des  Prccieux,  article  Dioclee  (Vol.  I,  p.  66,  ed.  Livet). 

*  CEnvres  choisies  de  Mme.  et  de  Mile.  Deshoulieres,  London,  1780, 
p.  59- 

'  Among  the  contestants  quoted  by  Walckenaer  we  find  La  Fare,  the 
poet  well  known  for  his  liaison  with  Mme.  de  la  Sabliere.  Since  the 
poem  in  question:  ''  Au  bon  vieux  tenis,  Dieux!  quels  supplices  .  .  ." 
certainly  dates  from  1684  or  shortly  afterwards,  we  have  positive 
proof  to  refute  the  fable  reported  by  several  critics  (e.  g.,  the  anony- 
mous edior  of  La  Fare's  works  of  1808),  that  La  Fare's  poetic  talent 
revealed  itself  only  at  the  age  of  fifty  or  sixty.  Born  in  1644,  he  was 
forty  years  old  when  he  wrote  this  particular  poem,  and  there  is  no 
reason  to  believe  that  it  was  his  first  offense.  Cf.  F.  Schwarzhaupt, 
Coulanges,  Chaulieu  und  La  Fare,  Diss.,  Leipzig,  1908. 

*  Walckenaer  alleges  as  a  reason  for  La  Fontaine's  animus  toward 
Mme.  Deshoulieres  the  hostility  which  she  had  repeatedly  shown  to 
his  friend  Racine.  Perhaps  La  Fontaine  had  a  further,  more  per- 
sonal reason:  We  see  from  Somaize's  Dictionnaire  (art.  Dioclee  and 
Leonce)  that  Mme.  Deshoulieres  presided  over  a  circle  in  which  the 
same  Linieres  who  in  1674  so  cruelly  mocked  at  La  Fontaine's  opera 
Daphne,  played  an  important  part ;  in  fact,  there  seems  to  have  been 
a  time  when  the  lady  was  actually  in  love  with  Linieres.  In  1691,  the 
latter  still  shows  the  same  hostility  in  the  chansons  in  which  he  ridi- 
cules La  Fontaine's  opera  Astree.  Perhaps  these  chansons  were  a  late 
reply  to  La  Fontaine's  ballad  against  Linieres'  pa  roness,  who,  in  her 
turn,  had  prcjbaljly  had  some  share  in  Linieres'  couplets  against 
Daphn6. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  ALLUSIONS  TO  THE  "ASTR£E"       n 

Madame  Deshoiilieres  had  begun  her  ballad  with  the 
words : 

A  caution  tous  amans  sont  sujets. 
Cette  maxime  en  ma  tete  est  ecrite. 

La  Fontaine  bluntly  replies,  in  the  same  metre  and  keeping 
the  same  rime  scheme : 

Qu'a  caution  tous  amants  soient  sujets, 
C'est  une  erreur  qui  les  bons  decredite. 

And  he  goes  on,  often  refuting  Mme.  Deshoulieres,  and 
showing  especially  that  even  jadis  not  all  lovers  were 
souniis,  constants,  discrets,  as  she  pretended.  He  sums  up 
his  arguments,  taking  the  Astree  as  their  best  illustration 
(vv.  28-36)  : 

Quand  Celadon  au  pays  de  Forets 
Etait  prone  comtne  un  aniant  d'e'Ate, 
On  vit  Hylas,  patron  des  indiscrets, 
En  plein  marchc  tenir  autre  conduite. 
Bref,  en  tout  temps,  Amour  eut  a  sa  suite 
Sujets  loyaux  et  sujets  e'.ourdis; 
Or  n'en  est  pas  la  coutume  perdue: 
Comme  autrefois  la  mode  en  est  venue, 
On  aime  encor  comme  on  aimait  jadis. 

It  is  certainly  not  unintentional  that  La  Fontaine  ends 
with  this  reminiscence  of  the  Astree.  He  wanted  to  re- 
mind the  poetess,  that  even  Urfe,  her  favorite  author,^ 
did  not  represent  love  exclusively  under  its  idealistic  aspects. 

IV. 

But  La  Fontaine  does  not  always  defend  his  own  age  so 
vigorously.     In  the  Contes  we  generally  find  the  opposite 

^  Mme.  Deshoulieres'  famous  journey  to  the  Forez  in  1672  is  related 
in  CEuv.  de  Mine,  et  de  Mile.  Deshoulieres,  Paris,  1768,  Vol.  I,  Introd., 
p.  XXIV.  She  also  dramatized  an  episode  of  the  Astree  (II,  n  and 
12)  in  her  tragedy  Genseric  (1681). 


12  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

point  of  view,  and,  like  Urfe  or  Mme.  Deshoulieres,  he 
praises  the  good  old  times : 

Las !  ce  n'est  plus  le  siecle  de  nos  peres ! 

he  exclaims  in  the  Quiproquo  (v.  yy),  and  in  the  Coupe 
enchantee  he  reflects  (vv.  215-216)  : 

Les  gens   d'alors  etaient  d'autres  gens  que  les   notres, 
On  ne  vivait  pas  comme  on  vit. 

He  is  not  at  a  loss  to  give  a  reason  for  this  change :  Astree 
and  Celadon  were  the  last  faithful  lovers ;  with  their  death 
True  Love  disappeared.  For  so  he  tells  us  in  the  Amis 
Reifiois  {Contes  III,  3;  vv.  5052)  : 

Amour  est  mort;  le  panvre  compagnon 
Put  enterre  sur  les  bords  du  Lignon. 
Nous  n'en  avons  ici  ni  vent  ni  voie. 

This  is  a  facetious  allusion  to  the  "  Tombeau  de  Celadon," 
visited,  as  we  have  seen,  by  Madame  Deshoulieres  and  her 
friends — an  allegoric  cenotaph  in  which  the  grateful  Fore- 
ziens  perpetuated  the  memory  of  the  Astree  and  their 
famous  compatriot.^ 

In  the  introduction  to  the  Cas  de  conscience  {Contes  IV, 
4)  we  find  another  very  amusing  allusion  to  the  Astree 
in  a  different  connection.  This  passage  is,  moreover, 
important  for  the  appreciation  of  La  Fontaine's  literary 
genius.  It  shows  him  as  an  artist  fully  conscious  of  his 
means,  who  feels  that  in  many  ways  he  is  in  opposition  to 
current  fashions  and  who  criticises  them  in  a  playful  man- 
ner. This  critical  attitude,  however,  never  prevents  him 
from  following  the  conventions,  whenever  he  deems  them 
fit  for  his  purpose.  In  our  passage  he  mocks  at  the  custom 
of  giving  highsounding  names  to  the  simplest  things  for 

*  See  Reure,  pp.  352-353- 


LA  FONTAINE'S  ALLUSIONS  TO  THE  "ASTR£E" 


13 


*'  poetry's  "  sake.  Besides  his  favorites,  the  nymphs  and 
shepherdesses,  two  well-known  figures  of  the  Astree  serve 
to  illustrate  his  point  (vv.  1-43)  : 

Les  gens  du  pays  des  fables 

Donnent  ordinairement 

Noms  et  titres  agreables 

Assez  liberalement ; 

Cela  ne  leur  coute  guere : 

Tout  leur  est  nymphe  ou  bergere,  , 

Et  deesse  bien  souvent.  ... 

De  ce  privilege  insigne 

Moi,  faiseur  de  vers  indigne, 

Je  pourrais   user  aussi 

Dans  les  contes  que  void. 

Et  s'il  me  plaisait  de  dire, 

Au  lieu  d'Anne,  Sylvanire  ^ 

Et  pour  messire  Thomas 

Le  grand  druide  Adamas^ 

Me  mettrait-on  a  I'amende? 

Non;  mais,  tout  considere, 

Le  present  conte  demande 

Qu'on  dise  Anne  et  le  cure. 

To  complete  this  enumeration,  we  must  not  omit  a  few 
lines  of  the  sixth  entree  of  the  Ballet  sur  la  paix  de  Nimcgue 
en  16/8,  which  La  Fontaine  is  supposed  to  have  composed 
or  at  least  thoroughly  revised.^  It  is  a  pastoral  masquerade 
in  which  the  shepherds  and  shepherdesses  are  compared  to 
the  blissful  inhabitants  of  the  Forez : 

1  See  Astr.,  IV,  4,  Histoire  de  Silvanire.  The  same  subject  was 
treated  by  Urfe  and,  after  him  by  Mairet,  in  a  pastoral  play.  Cf. 
Reure,  p.  335  flf. 

*  The  great  druid  Adamas  is  perhaps  the  most  dignified  and  imposing 
character  in  the  Astree.  He  is  well  versed  in  the  mysteries  of  Celtic 
religion  (Astr.,  II,  8,  p.  580  ff.)  and  in  platonic  love  (ib.,  2,  p.  135  ff.). 

8  Gr.  £cr.,  VIII,  p.  402  H.  and  Walckenaer,  Vol.  I,  p.  286. 


14  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

Telles  etaient  jadis  ces  ilhistres  bergcres 

Que  le  Lignon  tenait  si  chcrcs; 
Tels  etaient  ces  bergers  qui  le  long  de  ses  eaux 

Menaient  leurs  paisibles  troupeaux, 
Et  passaient  dans  leur  jeux  leurs  plus  belles  annees.  .  .  . 
Comme  eux.  .  .  . 

Nous  chantons  de  I'amour  les  plaisirs  et  les  peines; 
Et  le  divin  Tircis  ^  mele  aussi  quelquefois. 
Son  teorbe  divin  aux  accents  de  nos  voix. 

V. 

As  a  fitting  conclusion  to  this  chapter  we  may  add  a 
passage  from  La  Fontaine's  Epitre  a  Huet — our  poet's  fam- 
ous manifesto  in  the  Querelle  des  anciens  et  des  modernes.'^ 
He  frankly  confesses  that  he  sympathizes  at  heart  with  the 
old  classics  (vv.  33-34)  : 

Je  vois  avec  regret  ces  routes  meprisees : 

Art  et  guides,  tout  est  dans  les  Champs  Elysees. 

But  he  is  just  toward  the  merits  of  the  modern  authors. 
What  he  admires  of  the  literature  of  his  own  age,  is  cer- 
tainly most  interesting:  satire,  tragedy,  comedy  and — pas- 
toral poetry,  as  the  best  representative  of  which  he  quotes 
again  Urfe  (vv.  85-86)  : 

La  France  a  la  satire  et  le  double  theatre; 
Des  bergcres  d'Urfe  chacun  est  idolatre. 

■  Evidently  Tircis,  the  melancholy  shepherd  of  the  Astree  (cf.  esp. 
I,  i),  is  intended. 

2  See  Gr.  £cr.,  IX,  p.  200  ff. ;  ib.,  I,  pp.  xvii-xviii  and  pp.  cxlviii- 
cxlix,  and  Walckenaer,  Vol.  II,  pp.  131-136.  In  his  memoirs  Huet 
gives  an  account  of  the  origin  of  this  friendship  together  with  the  his- 
tory of  our  fLp'itre:  "  Feliccm  mihi  tulit  hie  idem  annus  amicorum  pro- 
ventum,  etc."  Cf.  P.  D  Huetii  Commentarius.  .  .  Amstelodami,  1718, 
p.  315.  If  Huet  remembers  correctly  that  he  first  met  La  Fontaine  in 
1687,  the  date  of  the  Hpitre,  we  must  modify  Walckenaer's  statement 
(Vol.  I,  p.  266)  that  this  friendship  dates  back  to  1674.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  separate  print  of  the  conte  "Les  troqueurs"  (on  which 
Wahrkcnaer  bases  his  assertion)  was  presented  to  the  bishop  by  La 
I'ontainc  at  a  later  date. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  ALLUSIONS  TO  THE  "ASTR£E"       15 

To  US  the  latter  choice  may  now  appear  strange  enough. 
Yet  nothing  could  be  more  characteristic  of  the  great  vogue 
which  pastoral  poetry,  and  in  particular  the  Astrce,  still  en- 
joyed, than  this  unexpected  reference  in  such  an  important 
passage,  in  which  a  man  of  La  Fontaine's  cultivated  taste 
deliberately  contrasts  the  best  works  of  the  classics,  and  the 
best  productions  of  his  own  age  and  country. 


CHAPTER  III. 
La  Fontaine's  Opera  Astree. 

Its  Composition — Its  Plot  Compared  with  Urfe's  Novel — Its  Literary- 
Merit. 


The  best  proof  of  La  Fontaine's  predilection  for  the 
Astree  is  doubtless  to  be  found  in  his  opera  libretto  Astree, 
which  he  composed  in  1691,  at  the  age  of  seventy,  long 
after  the  period  during  which  Urfe's  novel  had  been  the 
chief  source  of  many  pastoral  and  romantic  plays/  He 
attached  great  importance  to  this  work  and  never  left  Paris 
while  the  rehearsals  at  the  Acadeniie  Royale  de  Miisique 
were  going  on.^ 

The  music  of  the  opera  was  composed  by  Pascal  Colasse 
(1639-1709),  an  indifferent  pupil  and  plagiator  of  Lulli,  to 
whose  lack  of  talent  probably  a  great  part  of  the  failure 
must  be   attributed.^     The  first   public   performance   took 

^  According  to  Reure,  p.  290,  this  period  ends  in  1653,  with  Th.  Cor- 
neille's  dramatization  of  Sorel's  Berger  extravagant.  Cf.  the  well- 
known  statement  of  the  Segraisiana  (Amsterdam,  1722,  p.  29),  and 
E.  Marron's  singular  theory  on  the  Theatre  de  I'Astree  in  Rev.  Inde- 
peudatite,  1845,  Vol.  22,  p.  223  tf. 

'  Cf.  Lettre  pour  Mesdames  d'Hervart,  de  Virville  et  de  Gonvernei. 
Gr.  £cr.,  IX,  p.  461  ff. 

^  On  Colasse's  strange  personality  see:  Gr.  £cr.,  I,  pp.  cxl-cxlii ;  ibid.. 
VII,  p.  507;  Walckenaer,  Vol.  II,  p.  246;  more  fully  in  Biogr.  Gener., 
Paris,  1854,  and  in  Fetis,  Biogr  Univ.  des  Musiciens.  Paris,  1861,  2d. 
ed.  The  inferiority  of  Colasse  as  a  musician  is  also  attested  by  La 
Bruyere,  Caractcres,  ch.  II,  (ed.  Servois  and  Rebelliau,  Paris,  1908, 
9th  ed.,  p.  78)  :  "  C**  est  un  musicien  .  .  .  mais  Lulli  est  Lulli." 
16 


LA  FONTAINE'S  OPERA  "ASTR£E"  ly 

place  on  November  28,  169 1.  It  was  practically  a  failure. 
The  opera  was  represented  only  six  times,  and  both  libretto 
and  music  immediately  became  the  object  of  many  more  or 
less  witty  couplets.^ 

II. 

If,  in  the  following  pages,  a  somewhat  detailed  compar- 
ison is  attempted  of  the  plot  of  La  Fontaine's  opera,  or  as 
he  calls  it,  tragcdic  lyriqiie,  with  the  corresponding  passages 
in  Urfe's  novel,  we  are  well  aware  of  the  fact  that  such  an 
undertaking  may  seem  rather  pedantic  and  scarcely  worth 
while.  Yet,  however  little  importance  may  be  attached  to 
the  comparison  in  itself,  its  interest  increases  perhaps,  if 
we  consider  it  in  connection  with  La  Fontaine's  develop- 
ment as  a  poet.  He  had  always  loved  the  Astrce  and  had 
proclaimed  its  merits  many  a  time.  Is  it  not  almost  pathe- 
tic to  find  him  now,  really  "  ayant  la  barbe  grise,"  return- 
ing to  the  favorite  book  of  his  younger  days  and  seeking, 
in  its  adaptation  for  the  stage,  the  dramatic  success  which 
had  been  his  long-cherished  ambition  ?  We  can  almost 
see  him,  carefully  reading  over  certain  parts  of  the  novel 

*  On  Linieres'  chansons  and  on  the  various  anecdotes  connected  with 
La  Fontaine's  opera,  see  Gr.  £icr.,  and  Walckenaer,  /.  c,  and  the 
preceding  chap'er,  p.  20,  n.  4.  Rather  significant  is  the  second  of  two 
chansons  composed  by  the  Chevalier  de  Sain'-Gilles,  La  Fontaine's 
rival  in  the  domain  of  the  contc,  after  the  failure  of  the  opera: 

"  Je  laisse  a  son  gre  Celadon 
Se  rafraichir  dans  le  Lignon; 
J'avais  resolu  d'  en  medire, 
Mes  amis  m'en  avoient  prie: 
Mais   qu'est-il   besoin   de   satire, 
Quand  le  sujet  est  decrie? 

Certain  fat  inconnu,  s'e  ant  mis  sottement  en  tete  que  par  ces  mots 
de  sujet  dccric  j'entendois  le  Roman  de  Celadon  &  d'Astrce,  m'a- 
dressa  la-dessus  une  Chanson  tres-fade  et  tres-ridiculement  injurieuse. 
Je  lui  fis  cette  reponse  honnete,"  etc.  (here  follow  two  stanzas  of  very 
personal  content).     Cf.  La  Muse  Mousquetaire,  Paris,  1709,  pp.  71-72. 


l8  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

for  the  hundredth  time,  trusting  his  memory  for  others, 
and  freely  inventing  the  rest. 

Prologue  {w.  i-ioi). 

The  action  of  the  Prologue  takes  place  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  Seine.  In  the  background  is  Marly,  a  village  near 
Versailles,  where  Louis  XIV  had  a  delightful  residence. 
Spring  has  returned  and  has  rejuvenated  the  earth,  but 
at  the  same  time  the  Fury  of  War  has  kindled  her  torch 
anew  and  has  put  the  whole  world  in  commotion.  Only  in 
the  valley  of  the  Seine  the  wisdom  of  a  mighty  king  never 
allows  the  nymphs  to  be  disturbed  by  an  enemy.  Apollo, 
driven  out  of  his  empire  by  Mars,  his  eternal  adversary,  has 
descended  into  this  idyllic  region  and  exhorts  the  chorus 
of  the  nymphs  to  join  in  his  praise  of  Peace  and  Love,  and 
to  present  the  story  of  Celadon  and  Astree  to  their  Parisian 
audience  (v.  93  ff. )  : 

[Amour]  recompensa  quelques  moments   de  peine 
Qu'eurent  Astree  et  Celadon ; 
Faites  voir  aux  bords  de  la  Seine 
Les  aventures  du  Lignon. 

Act  I  {vv.  102-^41). 

The  scenery  of  the  first  act  is  the  typical  landscape  of 
the  Forez,  made  famous  by  Urfe's  description,  with  the 
river  Lignon  winding  its  way  through  the  fair  plain,  and 
with  hamlets  and  woods  on  both  banks.  The  time  is  so 
chosen  as  to  allow  the  greatest  display  of  scenic  effect.  It 
is  New  Year's  day,  "  la  fete  du  gui  de  I'an  neuf,"  that 
famous  ceremony  of  the  Celtic  religion,  traces  of  which 
were  still  to  be  found  among  French  country  people  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.^ 

'  See  Gr.  P^cr.,  VII,  p.  536  and  note  i.  Also  Ducange,  Vol.  VII,  art. 
A(jux\aneuj.  In  the  Astree  there  are  many  allusions  to  these  cere- 
monies, which  are  described  in  detail,  Part  III,  9,  p.  807  ff. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  OPERA  "ASTR£E"  19 

(Sc.  i)  Semire  enters,  the  typical  stage  villain.  An- 
other Richard  III,  he  reveals  his  dark  designs  from  the 
very  beginning:  "  a  thousand  poisons  "  he  has  poured  into 
Astree's  bosom,  in  order  to  estrange  her  from  Celadon  and 
to  gain  her  love  himself.  But  his  plans  were  not  en- 
tirely successful :  "  even  though  Astree  hate  Celadon,  will 
she  therefore  love  Semire?  But  then  he  will  at  least  be 
revenged!"  After  this  monologue  he  withdraws,  leaving 
the  stage  to  Astree  and  Philis,  her  coniidcnte.  (Sc.  2) 
Astree  believes  firmly  that  Celadon  is  unfaithful  to  her 
and  shows  Philis  a  letter  which  he  has  written  to  Aminte, 
her  rival.  Philis  tries  in  vain  to  persuade  her  that  the 
letter  must  be  a  forgery,  but  Astree  knows  better.  With 
her  own  eyes  she  had  seen  how  that  very  morning  he  em- 
braced the  knees  of  Aminte,  and  though  she  has  to  admit 
that  she  herself  commanded  him  to  make  love  to  the 
shepherdess  in  order  to  hide  his  real  affections,  she  is  con- 
vinced that  he  has  gone  too  far,  Aminte's  charms  have 
triumphed  over  her  own.  (Sc.  3)  In  order  to  learn 
Celadon's  real  intentions,  Philis  asks  Hylas  to  feign  love 
for  Aminte  and  to  coax  her  to  tell  her  secret. 

(Sc.  4)  Enter  Celadon,  dressed  in  a  festive  garb,  ready 
for  the  celebration.  He  sees  at  once  that  his  sweetheart 
is  oppressed  by  sorrow  and  asks  the  reason.  Astree  will 
not  listen  to  his  protestations  of  love  and  accuses  him  of 
infidelity.  Amazed,  he  wants  to  know  the  name  of  Astree's 
supposed  rival,  but  without  answering  his  question,  the 
angry  shepherdess  commands  him  never  to  appear  before 
her  eyes  again.  Celadon  announces  his  resolution  to  die, 
and  predicts  that  she  will  soon  regret  her  cruelty.  (Sc.  5) 
He  no  sooner  takes  leave  of  her  than  she  begins  to  be 
tormented  by  doubts.  She  calls  him  back,  but  alas,  "  il 
precipite  ses  pas  et  son  cruel  dessein,"  and  she  falls  in  a 
swoon. 


20  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTREE" 

(Sc.  6)  In  the  meanwhile  the  solemn  procession  of 
druids  approaches;  fauns,  shepherds  and  shepherdesses  fol- 
low— all  the  stereotyped  characters  which  had  formerly 
figured  in  the  pastorals  and  have  now  found  refuge  in  the 
pompous  display  of  the  opera.  The  chorus  is  singing  cheer- 
fully, when  suddenly  a  shepherd  rushes  in  with  the  news 
that  Celadon  has  been  drowned  in  the  river.  (Sc.  7)  Gen- 
eral consternation  follows  this  announcement,  and  all  flee 
to  seek  the  body  of  the  shepherd.  (Sc.  8)  Astree  and 
Philis  alone  remain;  Astree  announces  her  resolve  likewise 
to  put  an  end  to  her  life. 

Everyone  familiar  with  the  first  few  books  of  the  Astree 
will  recognize  at  once  how  closely  La  Fontaine  has  adhered 
to  the  story.  His  main  sources  are  the  famous  opening 
scene  of  the  novel,  and  the  Histoire  d' Astree  et  Philis  (I,  4). 
Since  it  was  necessary  for  La  Fontaine  to  give  some  exposi- 
tion, he  chose  a  monologue  by  Semire,  the  traitor,  which 
answers  the  purpose  quite  well,  but  detracts  at  the  very 
outset  from  that  delightful  pastoral  setting  which  charms 
us  in  the  novel. 

Semire,  according  to  Astree  I,  4  (p.  253).  is  a  shepherd, 
"  a  la  verite  plein  de  plusieurs  bonnes  qualitez,  s'il  n'eust 
este  le  plus  perfide  &  le  plus  cauteleux  homme  qui  fust 
iamais."  Astree  accepts  his  attentions  in  order  to  disguise 
her  love  for  Celadon,  but  when  Semire  discovers  through 
a  letter  that  she  really  loves  Celadon,  he  thmks  of  revenge. 
Speculating  on  her  jealousy,  he  makes  her  witness  a  rendez- 
vous between  Celadon  and  Aminte,  and  she  takes  Celadon's 
protestations  to  her  rival  seriously,  quite  forgetting  that 
he  is  only  executing  her  orders.^ 

'  Later  on  the  Semire  of  the  novel  repents  of  his  crime  and  asks 
Aslree's  forgiveness.  In  his  speech  to  Philis  (Astr.,  I,  4,  p.  186  ff.) 
one  may  perhaps  recognize  a  few  ideas  of  his  monologue  in  the  opera: 
"  Discrette   Philis,  i'aduoue,  que  le  Ciel   est  iuste  de   me  donner  plus 


LA  FONTAINE'S  OPERA  "ASTR£E"  2I 

The  forged  letter  which  Astree  shows  to  Philis  does  not 
figure  in  Urfe's  novel.  It  was  evidently  suggested  to  La 
Fontaine  by  Astree's  letter  to  Celadon,  which  is  found  by 
Semire.^  Similarly,  Philis'  device  to  find  out  Celadon's 
real  intentions  through  Hylas  is  not  found  in  the  novel. 
La  Fontaine  probably  introduced  it  merely  to  bring  Hylas, 
decidedly  the  most  popular  character  of  the  Astree,  on  the 
stage  as  soon  as  possible,  for  Philis'  order  is  never  carried 
out. 

A  reminiscence  of  the  novel  is  apparent  in  Astree's  angry 
words  (Sc.  2;  V.  180  ff.)  : 

II  le  prevoyait  bien,  le  traitre,  I'infidele; 
J'eus  peine  a  I'obliger  a  feindre  ses  amours; 
II  resista  longtemps,  je  persistais  toujours: 

Trouvait-il  Aminte  si  belle? 
Je  lisais  dans  ses  yeux  une  secrete  peur : 
L'ingrat  avait  raison  de  craindre  pour  son  coeur. 

This  corresponds  closely  to  the  account  she  gives  in  Astree 

d'enmiy  qu'vn  cocur  nest  capable  de  supporter:  puis  qu'encor  ne  peut-il 
esgaller  son  chastiment  a  mon  offense,  ayant  este  cause  de  faire  roni- 
pre  la  plus  belle  &  la  plus  entiere  amitie  qui  ait  iamais  este.  Mais 
afin  que  les  Dieux  ne  me  punissent  point  plus  rigoureusement,  distes  a 
cette  belle  Bergere  que  ie  demande  pardon  &  a  elle  &  aux  cendres  de 
Celadon,  I'assurant  que  I'extreme  affection  a  este  la  seule  cause  de 
ceste  faute.  .  .  ."  For  Semire's  ultimate  expiation  see  Astr.,  IV,  12, 
p.   142 1   ff. 

'^Astree,  I,  4,  p.  254.  Cf.  the  above-mentioned  (ch.  I,  p.  13  and  note 
2)  passage  in  the  Suite  du  menteur  (IV,  i,  v.  1243),  where  Corneille 
makes  a  similar  confusion  concerning  Semire's  letter. 

2  P.  208 :  "  Pour  celer  nostre  amitie  ie  le  priay,  ou  plustost  ie  le  con- 
traignis  de  faire  cas  de  toutes  les  Bergeres  qui  auroient  quelque  ap- 
parence  de  beaute,  a  fin  que  la  recherche  qu'il  faisoit  de  moy  fust 
plustost  iugee  commune  que  particuliere."  He  implores  her  on  his 
knees  to  countermand  her  order:  "  Helas,  le  pauure  Berger  auoit  bien 
raison  d'en  faire  tant  de  difficult e:  car  il  preuoyoit  trap  veritablemeptt 
que  de  Id  procederoit  la  cause  de  sa  mort" 


22  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

The  dramatic  scene  between  Astree  and  Celadon  faith- 
fully renders  the  beginning  of  the  novel,  although  the 
dialogue  hardly  offers  any  important  parallels,  except  for 
Astree's  severe  command  (v.  261)  : 

Va,  perfide,  va;  garde  toi 
D'oser  jamais  paraitre  devant  moi ! 

In  the  novel,  Astree  adds  a  restriction  to  her  order :  "Garde- 
toy  bien  de  te  iamais  laisser  voir  a  moy  que  ie  ne  te  le 
commande."  ^ 

To  meet  stage  requirements,  La  Fontaine,  in  the  last 
scenes  recurs  to  the  classic  expedient  of  the  messenger, 
v^'ho  announces  Celadon's  death.  In  the  novel.  Celadon 
drowns  himself  immediately;  Astree  tries  to  save  him,  but 
faints  and  falls  herself  into  the  water.  She  is  rescued  by 
shepherds  and  pretends  that  Celadon  lost  his  life  in  the 
attempt  to  save  her. 

Act  II  (w.  342-588). 

The  scene  is  changed :  we  are  a  few  miles  down  the 
Lignon,  at  Isoure,  in  the  gardens  of  Galatee,  "  princesse 
du  Forez." 

(Sc.  i)  A  short  monologue  of  Galatee  informs  us  that 
she  is  in  love  with  a  shepherd — Celadon,  as  we  hear  in  her 
subsequent    (Sc.   2)    conversation  with  Leonide,   her  con- 

1  This  restriction,  irrelevant  for  the  opera,  becomes  quite  important 
in  the  novel;  cf.  Astr.,  V,  6,  p.  443,  Leonide's  scheme  to  cause  Astree 
to  command  that  Celadon  should  appear  before  her.  Similarly,  Astr., 
V,  2,  p.  157.  The  good  abbe  Souchay,  who  in  the  first  half  of  the  i8th 
century  reworked  the  Astree  with  more  good-will  than  taste  and 
intelligence,  is  less  consistent.  He  shortens  the  original  command: 
"  Va  loin  d'ici,  6  le  plus  ingrat  des  hommes,  et  garde-toi  de  paroitre 
dcsormais  en  presence  d'Astree!"  But  later,  in  the  two  episodes  just 
mentioned,  the  original  restriction  reappears :  "  Va,  perfide,  ne  parais 
plus  devant  moi  que  je  ne  te  I'ordonne."  See  L'Astree  de  M.  d'Urfe, 
Pastorale  allrgorique,  avec  la  cle.  Nouvelle  edition.  Paris,  1733,  Vol. 
I,  p.  6,  and  Vol.  9,  pp.  83  and  260. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  OPERA  "ASTREE"  23 

adente.  The  waves  had  carried  him  ashore  in  that  neigh- 
borhood, where  he  had  been  found  half  dead.  Galatee, 
deceived  by  an  oracle,  sees  in  him  the  husband  destined  for 
her  by  the  gods.  Leonide  tries  in  vain  to  dissuade  her,  a 
princess,  from  loving  a  simple  shepherd.  (Sc.  3)  Celadon 
enters,  pale  and  sighing  over  his  sad  destiny.  Galatee 
approaches  him  with  her  sweetest  manner  and  her  prettiest 
verses,  but  Celadon  persists  in  his  gloomy  mood  which  he 
politely  ascribes  to  the  terrible  shock  he  received  on  falling 
into  the  river — a  mere  accident,  as  he  pretends.  (Sc.  4) 
Galatee  retires,  and  Leonide,  in  order  to  divert  his  thoughts, 
tells  him  about  the  famous  Fountain  of  True  Love  in  a 
mysterious  grotto  at  the  foot  of  these  gardens.  She  en- 
treats him  to  forget  cruel  Astree  and  to  respond  to  Galatee's 
affection.  But  Celadon  will  not  listen.  He  longs  to  be 
back  in  his  "  bocages,"  where  he  would  erect  a  temple  in 
honor  of  his  beloved  Astree.  (Sc.  5)  He  has  hardly  pro- 
nounced these  words,  when  the  fairy  Ismene  appears,  an- 
nouncing that  all  his  sufferings  will  come  to  a  happy  end 
that  very  day.  She  works  such  enchantments  that  the  gar- 
dens are  changed  into  a  forest  in  the  midst  of  which  rises 
a  temple  dedicated  to  Astree.^ 

(Sc.  6)  All  the  former  characters  have  disappeared. 
Astree  and  Philis  enter,  still  searching  for  Celadon's  body. 
They  are  greatly  astonished  to  find  a  new  temple  in  these 
familiar  grounds.  From  the  inscription  they  infer  that 
this  is  the  work  of  Celadon,  whose  soul,  they  believe,  is  still 
haunting  the  earth,  awaiting  funeral  rites.  (Sc.  7)  Other 
shepherds  arrive.  A  chorus  of  genii  forbids  profane  hearts 
to  approach.  This  temple  is  reserved  for  Astree  alone.  But 
while  the  whole  assembly  joins  in  a  eulogy  of  her  virtues, 
she  stands  aside,  sad  and  silent.     (Sc.  8)  When  the  chorus 

*  These  scenic  changes  take  place  behind  a  "  tourbillon  de  nuages  ". 


24 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 


retires,  she  believes  they  flee  from  her,  who  has  become  the 
*'  horreur  de  la  contree  "  on  account  of  her  cruelty  to  Cela- 
don. 

In  this  second  act  we  notice  again  a  more  or  less  skilful 
combination  of  several  rather  scattered  episodes  of  Urfe's 
novel.  The  first  part,  which  takes  place  in  Galatee's  garden, 
is  taken  mainly  from  Astrce,  part  I,  books  i,  2,  and  5,  while 
the  scenes  following  the  enchantment  correspond  to  a  long 
episode  in  Astree  II,  5. 

In  the  dialogue  between  Galatee  and  Leonide  two  motives 
call  for  our  special  attention.  The  first  is  the  strange  oracle 
to  which  Galatee  refers.^  In  her  replies.  Leonide  makes 
no  attempt  to  refute  this  prophecy,  nor  is  there  any  further 
allusion  to  it  in  the  following  scenes.  La  Fontaine  could 
easily  have  omitted  this  incident,  which  only  complicates 
the  dialogue.  But  he  was  fond  of  oracles,"  and  evidently 
counted  upon  an  audience  which  still  "  savait  son  Astree  " 
as  well  as  he  did  himself.  If  we  consult  the  novel,  the 
allusion  becomes  clear  at  once.  In  the  very  beginning  of 
the  second  book  (part  I),  Urfe  remarks  that  Galatee  was 
deceived  "  par  la  tromperie  de  Climanthe  qui  feignant  le 
deuin  luy  auoit  predit  que  celuy  qu'elle  recontreroit  ou  elle 
trouua  Celadon,  deuoit  estre  son  mary  si  elle  ne  vouloit  estre 
la  plus  malheureuse  personne  du  monde."  ^     Through  this 

'  V.  272 : 

Princesse,  .  .  .  voici  votre  destin : 

Une  etoile  ennemie.  autant  que  favorable, 

Peut  vous  rendre  en  hymen  heureuse  ou  miserable. 

Dans  ce  miroir  regardez  bien  ces  lieux : 
Vers  le  declin  du  jour  il  faudra  vous  y  rendre; 
Celui  qui  s'offrira  le  premier  a  vos  yeux 
Est  I'epoux  que  le  ciel  vous  ordonne  de  prendre. 

*  See  the  dissertation  on  the  proper  qualities  of  oracles  in  the  preface 
to  Les  Amours  de  Psyche  et  de  Cupidon. 

•  Astr.,  I,  2,  p.  48,  and  ib.,  5;  Hist,  de  la  tromperie  de  Climanthe,  pp. 
299-300.     The  oracle  itself  is  very  long;  the  following  passage  ccr- 


LA  FONTAINE'S  OPERA  "ASTR£E"  25 

artifice  Climanthe  intended  to  win  the  affection  of  Galatee 
for  his  friend  Polemas. 

The  second  motive  which  seems  of  importance,  is  char- 
acteristic of  the  development  of  the  pastoral  drama  as  a 
genre.     Leonide  objects  to  Celadon's  low  rank  (v.  363)  : 

Princesse,  il  est  charmant,  mais  ce  n'est  qu'un  berger. 

Galatee  defends  herself  (v.  364)  : 

Par  les  noeuds  de  I'hymen  le  sceptre  et  la  houlette 

Se  sont  unis  plus  d'une  fois. 
L'amour  n'est  plus  amour  des  qu'il  cherche  en  ce  choix 

Une  egalite  si  parfaite. 

La  Fontaine  therefore  represents  Celadon  as  a  real  shep- 
herd of  low  estate,  ennobled  only  by  the  love  he  inspires  in 
a  princess — a  romantic  conception  which  we  meet  quite  fre- 
quently in  the  later  pastoral/  In  the  Astree  conditions  are 
somewhat  different;  we  find  there  a  peculiar  compromise: 
Urfe's  shepherds,  as  Galatee  expresses  it,  "  ne  sont  pas 
Bergers  pour  n'auoir  de  quoy  viure  autrement :  mais  pour 
s'acheter  par  ceste  douce  vie  vn  honneste  repos."  Thus 
the  two  elements  of  noble  origin  and  of  low  actual  condition 

responds  to  La  Fontaine's  text :  "  Vous  auez  vne  influence  infiniment 
mauuaise  &  vne  autre  la  plus  heureuse  qu'on  puisse  desirer.  ...  La 
bonne  est  celle-ci  que  vous  voyez  dans  ce  miroir :  Remarquez  done 
bien  ce  lieu  que  ie  vous  ay  fait  voir.  .  .  .  Le  iour  ou  la  Lune  sera  au 
mesme  estat  qu'elle  est  auiourd'huy,  enuiron  cette  mesme  heure  vn  peu 
plus  tost  ou  vn  peu  plus  tard,  vous  trouuerez  celuy  que  vous  deuez 
aimer." 

'  See  G.  Rudolph,  La  pocsie  pastorale  dans  le  roman  et  sur  la  scene 
du  /7c  siccle,  Altenburg,  1897,  Progr.,  and  J.  Marsand,  La  pastorale 
dramatique  en  France,  Paris,  1905 ;  cf.  p.  371,  n.  2,  the  analysis  of 
Mairet's  Silvie,  where  a  prince  is  in  love  with  the  shepherdess  Silvia, 
with  whom  he  is  finally  united.  That  this  romantic  conception  has  lost 
nothing  of  its  charm  even  in  our  own  days,  is  shown  by  the  continued 
success  of  A.  Rivoire's  delightful  play  " //  ctait  une  bergcre  .  .  .," 
first  performed  at  the  Theatre  Frangais  April  7,  1905. 


26  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

are  given,  and  the  poet  may  emphasize  either  one,  according 
to  his  purpose.^ 

The  "  Fontaine  de  la  Verite  d'Amour  "  which  Leonide 
describes  (Sc.  4),  is  the  most  important  of  the  miraculous 
contrivances  of  the  Astrce.  This  fountain,  says  Urfe, 
was  "  a  la  verite  merueilleuse :  car  par  la  force  des  en- 
chantements,  I'Amant  qui  s'y  regardoit,  voyoit  celle  qu'il 
aymoit:  que  s'il  estoit  ayme  d'elle,  il  s'y  voyoit  aupres :  que 
si  de  fortune  elle  en  aymoit  un  autre.  I'autre  y  estoit  repre- 
sents &  non  pas  luy  &  par  ce  qu'elle  decouuroit  les  trom- 
peries  des  Amans,  on  la  nomma  la  Verite  d'Amour."  ^  But 
unfortunately,  now  (v.  446)  : 

'  Cf.  Leonide's  remonstrances  and  Galatee's  defense  in  Astr.,  I,  2, 
p.  53,  the  passage  which  La  Fontaine  evident!}'  had  in  mind  in  the 
quoted  vv.  363-367:  "Mais,  Madame,  respondit  Leonide,  vous  es'es 
si  grande  Nymphe,  Dame  apres  Amasis  (=  Galatee's  mother)  de 
toutes  ces  belles  contrees,  aurez-vous  le  courage  si  abbattu  que  d'aymer 
vn  homme  nay  du  milieu  du  peuple?  vn  rustique?  vn  Berger?  vn 
homme  de  rien?  M'amie,  repliqua  Galathee,  laissons  ces  iniures  & 
vous  ressouuenez  qu'Enone  se  fit  bien  Bergere  pour  Paris,  &  que 
I'ayant  perdu  elle  le  regretta  &  pleura  a  chaudes  larmes.  .  .  .  Mais 
que  Celadon  ne  soit  nay  d'aussi  bon  sang  que  Paris,  m'amie,  vous 
n'auez  point  d'esprit  si  vous  le  dites :  car  ne  sont-ils  pas  venus  tous 
deux  d'vne  mesme  origine  ?  "  On  the  other  hand,  when  Celadon  ap- 
pears, Galatee  pays  him  a  compliment  quite  in  accord  with  La  Fon- 
taine's conception :  "  En  quelque  lieu  que  la  vertu  se  trouue,  elle  merite 
d'estre  aimee  &  honoree,  aussi  bien  sous  les  habits  des  Bergers  que 
sous  la  glorieuse  pourpre  des  Roys."  {lb.,  pp.  68-69.)  Celadon  then 
tells  the  story  of  his  parents,  and  "  Galathee  ...  en  demeura  plus 
satisfaicte  qu'il  ne  se  peut  croire,  pour  auoir  s^eu  de  quels  ayeuls  estoit 
descendu  ce  Berger  qu'elle  aymoit  tant." 

^  Astr.,  I,  2,  p.  49.  In  I,  3  {Hist,  de  Silvie),  pp.  156-157,  a  druid  gives 
an  elaborate  philosophical  explanation  of  the  charm:  "II  faut  que 
vous  SQachiez  que  tout  ainsi  que  les  autres  eaux  representent  les  corps 
qui  luy  sont  deuant,  celle-cy  represente  les  esprits.  Or  I'esprit  qui 
n'est  que  la  volonte,  la  memoire  &  le  iugement,  lorsqu'il  aime,  se 
transforme  en  la  chose  aymee :  &  c'est  pourquoy  lors  que  vous  vous 
presentez  icy,  elle  re<;oit  la  figure  de  vostre  esprit.  &  non  pas  de 
vostre  corps."  Cf.  Gr.  S.cr.,  V,  p.  88,  the  introduction  to  La  coupe 
enchantee,  where  similar  contrivances  to  discover  true  love  are  enum- 
erated. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  OPERA  "ASTR£E" 

On  n'en  approche  plus ;  deux  monstres  a  I'entour 
Interdisent  I'abord  d'une  source  si  belle. 


27 


According  to  the  novel,  this  second  enchantment  was  the 
revenge  of  Clidamant,  a  cavalier  who  had  been  jilted  by 
Galatee's  friend  Silvie/ 

La  Fontaine  followed  the  novel  also  in  making  Leonide 
the  advocate  of  Galatee's  love  for  Celadon.  He  omitted, 
however,  the  very  dramatic  conflict  of  duty,  love  and 
jealousy  in  Leonide's  heart.  Urfe's  Leonide  has  also  fallen 
in  love  with  Celadon,  and  makes  a  partial  avowal  of  this 
to  Galatee.  The  princess  immediately  becomes  jealous  of 
the  rival;  she  reproves  her,  and  Leonide,  deeply  offended, 
leaves  the  palace.  It  is  only  later  that  Galatee  hears  how 
generously  Leonide  had  advanced  the  love  of  her  mistress, 
in  spite  of  her  own  affection  for  Celadon.' 

The  appearance  of  the  fairy  Ismene  belongs  of  course 
altogether  to  the  realm  of  operatic  effect,  and  has  no  coun- 
terpart in  the  novel.  Similarly  the  following  scenes  (5-7) 
mainly  serve  the  purpose  of  introducing  an  effective  musical 
ensenible-movtment  But  La  Fontaine  has  not  invented 
them  entirely.  They  correspond,  as  has  been  said  above,  to 
a  long  episode  related  in  the  fifth  book  of  the  second  part 
of  the  Astrce:  Silvandre  had  found  in  the  woods  a  letter 
written  by  Celadon.  Astree  and  the  others  are  anxious  to 
go  and  see  the  place.  When  they  arrive,  imagine  their 
astonishment  on  finding  the  well-known  spot  changed  into 
a  rustic  temple.  Around  a  mighty  oak  smaller  trees  are 
bent  together  in  a  manner  to  form  a  perfect  vault;  within 
they  find  pictures,  portraits  and  poetic  inscriptions.  Over 
the  entrance  they  read : 

*  Astr.,  I,  3,  p.  157,  Hist,  de  Sihie.  ' 

*  lb.,  I,  4,  pp.  169-178.  i 


28  -^--i  FONTAIXE  AXD  THE  "ASTRCE" 

Loin,  bien  loin,  profanes  esprits; 
Qui  n'est  d'vn  sainct  amour  espris 
En  ce  lieu  sainct  ne  fasse  entree : 
Voicy  le  bois  ou  chaque  iour 
Vn  coeur  qui  ne  vit  que  d'Amour 
Adore  la  Deesse  Astree.^ 

Astree,  deeply  affected  by  the  sight  of  this  temple  which 
recalls  such  sweet  recollections,  requests  that  a  cenotaph 
be  erected  to  his  memory. 

It  is  evident  that  the  connection  of  this  episode  with 
La  Fontaine's  operatic  display  is  very  slight.  Even  the 
inscriptions  on  the  temple  are  quite  different,  though  La 
Fontaine's,  with  its  overflowing  tears,  is  very  much  in  the 
style  of  L'rfe's  poetry  (v.  529)  : 

C'est  dans  cette  demeure 
Qu'un  amant  exile  cherche  en  vain  quelque  paix. 
Que  pour  le  prix  des  pleurs  qu'il  y  verse  a  toute  heure, 
Puisse  Astree  etre  heureuse  et  n'en  verser  jamais.^ 

Act  III  {zi'.  589-737)- 

The  stage  represents  the  Fountain  of  True  Love. 
(Sc.  i)  Astree  has  deceived  Philis,  her  companion.  Alone, 
she  approaches  the  dangerous  fountain.  Overcome  by 
grief  and  fatigue  she  sinks  down  beside  the  well,  and  a 
magic  sleep  closes  her  eyes.  (Sc.  2)  Celadon  has  followed 
her,  as  she  was  wandering  through  the  woods.  He  now 
draws  near  to  save  her  from  the  monsters,  but  he  hurls 

*  Charlotte  Banti,  L'Amyntas  du  Tassc  et  V Astree  d'H.  d'Urfe,  Milan, 
1895,  p.  30,  shows  that  the  first  verse  is  a  translation  of  Tasso's  "  Lungi, 
ah  lungi  ite,  profani ! ",  the  inscription  of  the  "  antro  dell' Aurora" 
(Aminta  atto  I,  v.  190). 

*  The  inscription,  as  given  in  the  novel,  evidently  suggested  to  him 
the  following  verses  of  one  of  the  genii  (v.  541)  : 

N'approchez  point,  profanes  coeurs! 
Cost  ici  le  temple  d'Astree: 
Qu'aucun  mortel  en  ce  lieu  n'ait  entree, 
S'il  ne  sent  de  pures  ardeurs. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  OPERA  "ASTRUE"  29 

his  shaft  in  vain:  the  weapon  rebounds  without  effect;  the 
animals  are  changed  into  stone.  When,  in  his  despair,  the 
shepherd  attempts  to  kill  himself,  his  hand  is  restrained 
by  an  invisible  power,  and,  like  Astree,  an  irresistible  sleep 
overcomes  him.  (Sc.  3)  Enter  Tircis  and  Hylas,  expect- 
ing to  witness  the  dissolution  of  the  enchantment,  as  fore- 
told by  the  fairy  Ismene.  When  they  see  the  apparently 
lifeless  forms  of  Astree  and  Celadon  stretched  out  beside 
the  fountain,  they  assume  that  the  charm  has  been  broken 
through  their  noble  sacrifice  and  retire  to  call  their  com- 
panions. (Sc.  4)  Astree  and  Celadon  awake  slowly.  They 
first  believe  they  are  dreaming ;  but  soon  the  old  love  is  re- 
awakened, and  they  sink  into  each  other's  arms. 

(Sc.  5)  In  the  meantime  Ismene  informs  Galatee  of  all 
that  has  happened,  and  without  any  grief  or  inner  struggle 
the  princess  expresses  her  willingness  to  contribute  to  the 
union  of  the  lovers.  (Sc.  6)  The  chorus  of  shepherds 
appears,  led  by  Hylas  and  Tircis,  to  witness  the  final  tri- 
umph of  Celadon's  and  Astree's  love.  They  all  hasten  to  the 
well,  but  Hylas,  the  sceptic,  holds  them  back,  lest  the  charm 
should  reveal  their  infidelity.^  Finally  Ismene  invites  her 
nymphs  to  join  in  a  ballet,  and  a  short  divertissement  in 
Italian  ends  the  opera. 

The  action  of  the  third  act  is  taken  from  the  last  four 
books  of  the  fifth  part  of  the  Astree  or  the  Conclusion, 
completed  by  Balthazar  Baro,  Urfe's  secretary,  from 
notes  left  by  his  master."  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  sum 
up  the  corresponding  scenes  in  the  novel,  as  the  action  is 

^  This  is  probably  a  reminiscence  of  La  coupe  enchantee,  in  which 
Renauld  similarly  refuses  to  try  the  virtue  of  the  cup.  See  Contes, 
IV,  4,  vv.  365-377,  and  scene  XVTII  of  ihe  comedy  La  coupe  en- 
chantee by  Champsmesle-La  Fontaine  (1688).  Cf.  Gr.  &cr.,  VII,  p. 
550,  n.  2. 

'  See  the  Priuilege  du  Roy,  which  precedes  the  fifth  part. 


30 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 


practically  identical  and  the  dialogue  entirely  independent 
of  Baro's  prose.  La  Fontaine  simplified  wherever  he  could, 
omitting  especially  all  the  incidents  relating  to  Diane  and 
Silvandre,  whose  fate,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  novel,  is  so 
intimately  connected  with  that  of  the  protagonists. 

Only  the  denouement  of  the  Conclusion  is  different. 
After  the  spell  is  broken,  the  shepherds  approach  the  foun- 
tain, and  behold!  the  water  reflects  the  image  of  every  one 
of  them  by  the  side  of  his  sweetheart.  Even  Hylas  is  satis- 
fied; for  instead  of  seeing  the  whole  host  of  his  past  con- 
quests, he  finds  only  Stelle,  "  qu'il  aimoit  alors  veritable- 
ment."  ^  Then  the  nuptials  are  celebrated,  thus  bringing 
the  storj-  to  a  close : 

Tous  les  Bergers  &  Bergeres  reuindrent  raconter  a  Lignon 
les  triomphes  qu'ils  auoient  emportez  en  la  jouissance  des 
faueurs  qu'ils  auoient  si  longtemps  attendues,  dont  cette 
Riuiere  se  rendit  si  scauante  qu'il  semble  encore  aujourd'huy 
que  dans  son  plus  doux  murmure  elle  ne  parle  d'autre  chose 
que  du  repos  de  Celadox  &  de  la  felicite  d'AsTREE. 

III. 

Summing  up  this  comparison  of  La  Fontaine's  tragedie 
lyrique  and  Urfe's  pastoral,  we  find,  as  the  main  feature  of 
the  former,  the  exceeding  conciseness  of  the  plot,  brief 
sometimes  at  the  expense  of  clearness  and  finer  individuali- 
zation.   Theoretically  even  unity  of  time  is  observed."    The 

•  Astr.,  V,  12,  p.  951. 

*  With  La  Fontaine's  conciseness  compare  the  prolixity  of  some  of 
his  predecessors :  Marechal's  L'inconstance  d' Hylas,  a  pastoral  tragi- 
comedy in  five  acts,  represented  in  1629  or  1630  and  printed  in  1635, 
introduces  characters  only  known  to  the  "  fanatiques  de  I'Astree." 
Of  huge  dimensions  is  also  Rayssiguier's  "  Tragicomcdie  Pastorale. 
Ou  les  Amours  d'Astrce  et  de  Celadon  sont  meslces  a  celles  de  Diane, 
de  Sihandre  et  de  Paris,  avec  les  inconstances  d'Hylas,"  Paris,  1630. 
Cf.  Marsand,    La  Pastorale  dramatique,  pp.  354-356  and  383,  n.  2. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  OPERA  "ASTREE"  31 

best  part  of  the  libretto  is  no  doubt  the  first  act,  in  which 
the  very  conciseness  of  the  situations  produced  scenes  of 
real  dramatic  power. 

As  to  the  different  characters,  Astree  alone  shows  some 
traits  of  individuality,  while  Celadon's  rather  insignificant 
part  is  entirely  in  the  style  of  the  conventional  operatic 
hero.  Conventional  also  are  all  the  other  dramatis  per- 
sonae.^ 

It  remains  to  speak  of  the  language  of  our  opera.  While 
La  Fontaine,  in  his  former  attempts  in  the  operatic  genre, 
had  strongly  emphasized  the  lyrical  element,'  he  abandons 
it  here  almost  entirely,  except  for  the  prologue.  Even 
cheerful  Philis  and  the  ever  merry  Hylas  could  hardly  in- 
spire him,  and  the  short  lyrics  of  the  chorus  never  rise  above 
commonplaces.  In  a  few  passages,  however,  the  great  poet 
La  Fontaine  shows  himself  at  his  very  best.  The  sensation 
of  loneliness  and  fear  is  admirably  expressed  in  the  verses 
which  Philis  addresses  to  Astree,  after  the  shepherds  have 
retired  (Act  II,  8;  v.  575  fif.)  : 

Retirons  nous  aussi,  quittons  cette  demeure; 

La  peur  m'y  saisit  a  toute  heure. 
II  est  tard,  et  chacun  s'en  retourne  aux  hameaux; 
L'ombre  croit  en  tombant  de  nos  prochains  coteaux.^ 
Rejoignons  ces  bergers :  deja  la  nuit  s'avance, 

Dans  ces  lieux  regne  le  silence. 
Bergers,  attendez-nous.  ...  lis  ne  m'ecoutent  pas.  .  . 

'  Cf.  the  severe  judgment  in  N.  Bonafous,  Etude  sur  l' Astree  et  sur 
H.  d'Urfe,  Paris,  1846,  p.  185. 

'  See,  for  instance,  Daphne,  act  I,  sc.  2.  with  the  pretty  songs  of 
Clymene  and  Meroe,  and,  in  the  fragment  of  Galatee,  act  I,  sc.  i,  Ti- 
mante's  song. 

'  This  is  a  reminiscence  of  Vergil,  EcL,  I,  vv.  83-84. 

Et  iam  summa  procul  villarum  culmina  fulmant, 
Maioresque  cadunt  altis  de  montibus  umbrae. 
Cf.  Philemon  et  Baucis,  vv.  93-94.  and  Gr.  f£cr.,  VI,  p.  I57,  n.  2. 


32 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E' 


The  entire  elegy  in  which  Astree  prays  to  Celadon's  be- 
loved shadow,  is  full  of  deep  melancholy,  resignation  and 
repentance  (Act  III,  i ;  v.  599  ff.)  : 

Chere  ombre,  je  te  suis.     Adieu,  rives  cruelles; 
Adieu,   soleil ;  adieu,  mes  compagnes  fideles : 
N'aimez  point,  ou  tachez  de  bannir  de  I'amour 
Les  soupgons,  les  depits,  les  injustes  querelles. 
Celui  que  je  regrette  en  a  perdu  le  jour. 

But  in  spite  of  these  beauties  of  detail,  our  preference 
will  always  be  Urfe's  novel  rather  than  La  Fontaine's 
dramatization.  Let  us  however  recall  a  circumstance  which 
might  explain  perhaps  many  shortcomings  of  the  opera: 
La  Fontaine  had  to  adapt  his  poetry  not  only  to  the  re- 
quirements of  musical  treatment  in  general,  but  probably  to 
very  definite  wishes  of  his  composer;  and  the  strange  per- 
sonality of  Colasse  seems  to  confirm  such  a  supposition. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Statement  of  the  Abbe  D'Olivet  in  his  Histoire 
de  I' Academie  Frangaise. 

The  examination  of  La  Fontaine's  allusions  to  Urfe's 
novel,  together  with  the  study  of  the  opera  Astree,  has 
shown  how  our  fabulist,  during  the  entire  period  of  his 
literary  activity,  was  indeed  deeply  affected  by  the  charms 
of  Urfe's  pastoral.  The  passages  adduced  are  no  doubt 
of  sufficient  importance  at  least  to  offer  strong  external 
evidence  of  our  assumption  of  more  or  less  intimate  literary 
relations  between  the  two  authors.  A  conclusive  proof  can, 
of  course,  only  be  furnished  by  a  detailed  examination  and 
comparison  between  the  different  works  of  La  Fontaine  and 
the  Astree,  which  will  be  attempted  in  the  following 
chapters. 

Before  proceeding  to  this  "internal  evidence,"  let  us,  how- 
ever, not  forget  a  bit  of  very  curious  testimony,  almost  con- 
temporary with  La  Fontaine,  which  likewise  seems  to  bear 
out  our  assumption.  Pierre-Joseph  Thoulier,  abbe 
d'Olivet,  (1682-1768),  one  of  La  Fontaine's  earliest  biogra- 
phers, makes  the  following  statement  in  his  account  of  La 
Fontaine's  life,  incorporated  in  his  Histoire  de  I'Academie 
Frangaise :  "  Apres  Marot  et  Rabelais,  La  Fontaine  n'esti- 
mait  rien  tant  que  VAstree  de  M.  d'Urfe.  C'est  d'ou  il 
tirait  ces  images  champetres,  qui  lui  sont  si  familieres,  et 
qui  font  toujours  un  si  bel  effet  dans  la  poesie."  ^ 

1  Pellisson  et  Olivet,  Hist,  de  I'Acad.  fr.  ed.  Ch.-L.  Livet,  Paris,  1858, 
2  vols. ;  Cf.  Vol,  II,  p.  306. 

33 


34  J-A  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

This  assertion  which  seems  to  contradict  most  of  our 
theories  as  to  the  originality  of  La  Fontaine's  creative 
genius,  has,  of  course,  not  escaped  the  attention  of  literary- 
critics.  Their  attitude,  however,  is  rather  sceptical.  Livet, 
for  instance,  in  commenting  upon  this  passage,  practically 
rejects  the  assumption.^  M.  P.  Mesnard,  in  his  Vie  de 
La  Fontaine,  admits  the  possibility  of  a  remote  influence." 
More  positive  is  AI.  Reure  when  he  says,  referring  evi- 
dently to  Olivet's  statement :  "  Urf e  a  peint  la  nature  avec 
sincerite  et  avec  exactitude ;  chose  assez  rare,  et  qui  le  sera 
plus  encore  sous  Louis  XIV.  Sous  ce  rapport,  il  n'a  pas 
eu  d'influence,  si  ce  n'est  probablement  sur  La  Fontaine, 
qui  s'etait  nourri  de  YAstree,  et  qui  sans  doute  en  a  tire 
quelques-unes  de  ses  images  champetres.^ 

The  trustworthiness  of  Olivet's  biography  of  La  Fon- 

^  Cf.  I.  c,  p.  306,  n. :  "  La  Fontaine  est  un  des  rares  poetes  du  temps 
de  Louis  XIV,  qui  semblent  avoir  peint  la  nature  d'apres  leurs  im- 
pressions et  non  par  une  sterile  imitation  d'autrui.  On  a  done  lieu  de 
s'etonner  de  cette  assertion  de  I'abbe  d'Olivet." 

*  Gr.  Ecr.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  xx-xxi :  "  D'Olivet  aurait  du  indiquer  ces 
images  champetres  empruntees  a  VAstree;  nous  ne  savons  s'il  I'aurait 
pu  facilement.  II  faut  peut-etre  se  con"  enter  de  penser  que  dans  ces 
imaginations  ingenieuses,  delicates  et  fleuries  de  d'Urfe,  le  penchant 
de  La  Fontaine  vers  les  fictions,  les  douces  reveries,  la  galanterie  fine 
et  son  goijt  pour  les  riants  paysages  ont  trouve  leur  compte,  et  qu'a 
cette  source  son  talent  a  puise,  a  defaut  d'imitations  directes,  une 
nourriture  appropriee." 

*  Reure,  p.  256.  All  the  other  critics  consulted  simply  state  that  La 
Fontaine  was  particularly  fond  of  the  Astree,  or  that  he  found  the 
subject  of  his  opera  in  Urfe's  novel.  So  Walckenaer,  Vol.  I,  p.  21; 
Saint-Marc  Girardin,  Cours  dc  lift,  dramat.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  64;  Villemain, 
Cours  de  litt.  fr.  au  i8e  s..  Vol.  Ill,  p.  357;  Sainte-Beuve,  Portr.  Litt., 
Vol.  I,  p.  493,  Appendice  on  La  Fontaine ;  Cans,  du  Lundi,  Vol.  Ill, 
p.  71,  and  esp.  Vol.  VII,  p.  61  ;  Lafenestre,  La  Fontaine,  Paris,  1895, 
p.  15;  B.  Germa,  L' Astree,  sa  composition,  son  influence,  Paris-Tou- 
louse, 1904,  p.  262.  Important  is  also:  E.  Faguet's  course  on  La  Fon- 
taine in  Rev.  des  Cours  et  des  Confer.,  Vol.  V,  p.  602,  where  he  draws 
a  parallel  between  La  Fontaine's  Adonis  and  the  Astree. 


THE  STATEMENT  OF  THE  ABBE  D'OLIVET  3^ 

taine  is  a  difficult  matter  to  determine.  Although  his  His- 
toire  de  I'Academie  as  a  whole  has  been  criticized  rather 
severely, — and  for  good  reasons/  it  must  be  acknowledged 
that  in  the  case  of  the  notice  on  La  Fontaine  he  did  all  he 
could  to  bring  together  material  from  the  best  possible 
sources.  He  was  too  young  to  have  known  La  Fontaine 
personally,  but  he  was  intimate  with  several  of  La  Fon- 
taine's best  friends,  like  Maucroix,  Boileau  and  Huet,  some 
of  whom  also  highly  esteemed  the  Astree.^  Thus  he  was 
in  a  position  to  obtain  reliable  information  as  to  many  de- 
tails, and  he  repeatedly  insists  upon  the  fact  that  his  article 
is  "  purement  historique."  ^ 

It  is  therefore  permissible  to  assume  that  Olivet  did  not 
make  his  statement  concerning  La  Fontaine's  indebtedness 
to  the  Astree  at  random,  but  that  he  based  it  on  some  re- 
liable authority  of  which  we  are  ignorant.     If,  on  the  other 

^  See  Livet's  Introduction,  Vol.  I,  p.  xix  ff.,  and  Fournel's  article  on 
Olivet  in  the  Noiivelle  Biographic  Generale. 

*  Huet,  for  instance,  was  the  first  to  examine  the  sources  of  the 
Astree  critically.  The  Bibliotheque  Nationale  of  Paris  preserves  the 
bishop's  copy  of  the  Astree  (inv.  Y^,  7036-7040),  in  which  he  care- 
fully noted  all  the  parallel  passages  and  borrowings  which  he  had 
found  in  the  novel.  Most  of  these  marginal  notes  correspond  to 
motives  which  he  afterward  treated  more  fully  in  his  Traite  de  I'Ori- 
gine  des  Romans.  See  also  P.  D.  Huetii  Comment,  de  rebus  ad  eum 
pertin.     Amsterdam,  1718,  p.  256,  and  Reure,  p.  286,  n.  i. 

'  Cf.  his  letter  to  President  Bouhier  of  Jan.  24,  1724,  which  throws 
an  interesting  light  on  the  genesis  of  the  notice  (Livet,  Vol.  II,  p.  406). 
There  are  but  three  insignificant  errors  in  the  article  (all  corrected  by 
Walckenaer,  Vol.  II,  p.  288,  n.  i).  As  to  his  anecdotes,  many  of  them 
have  been  explained  more  or  less  plausibly  by  Walckenear,  Vol.  I,  pp. 
19-20,  or  more  recently  by  G.  Lafenestre,  /.  c,  pp.  16-17,  and  E.  Der- 
aine,  Au  Pays  de  Jean  de  La  Fontaine,  Paris,  1909,  pp.  85-110:  La  Fon- 
taine et  sa  Feiiimc.  In  this  connection,  cf.  also  L.  Salesse,  Un  coin 
de  la  Champagne  et  du  Valois  au  lye  s.,  Chateau-Thierry,  1894,  and 
A.  Albalat,  Le  Vrai  La  Fontaine,  in  Rev.  Hebdomadaire,  i8e  annee, 
Vol.  XI,  pp.  179-187.  Most  of  these  recent  publications  are  severely 
criticised  by  G.  Michaut,  La  Fontaine  I,  Paris,  1913,  pp.  41-50. 


36  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

hand,  the  critics  are  so  reserved  in  their  opinion,  they 
have  good  reasons  for  their  attitude.  OHvet's  statement  t^ 
misleading,  as  it  goes  too  far  in  its  wording,  and  they  re- 
ferred the  expression  images  champctres  probably  too  ex- 
clusively to  the  fables.  We  shall  see  in  our  next  chapter 
that  the  parallelism  between  the  Fables  and  the  Astree  can 
be  carried  much  further  than  might  appear  at  first  sight; 
but  the  identity  of  inspiration  usually  moves  along  more 
general  lines.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  also  take  into  con- 
sideration La  Fontaine's  minor  works,  like  Psyche  or  the 
Songe  de  Vaux,  where,  as  in  the  Astree,  a  sincere  feeling 
for  nature  is  combined  with  an  agreeable,  well-tempered 
preciosity,  we  shall  find  passages  which  actually  seem  to 
have  their  sources  in  his  favorite  novel. 


CHAPTER  V. 

La  Fontaine's  Fables. 

The  Fable  in  the  Astree — The  Real  and  the  Conventional  Shepherd  in 
La  Fontaine's  Fables  as  compared  with  the  Astree — The  Personal 
Element:  Les  Deux  Pigeons  and  the  Preface  to  the  First  Part  of 
the  Astree — Feeling  for  Nature :  Independently  Expressed  by  each 
Poet;  Urfe  as  a  Landscape  Painter;  Nature  in  Accord  with  Human 
Moods — Longing  for  Quiet  Life:  Identity  of  Inspiration — Conclu- 
sion :  The  Public  of  Both  the  Astree  and  of  the  Fables  not  Insen- 
sible to  the  Charms  of  Nature. 

I. 

There  seems  to  be  an  irreconcilable  contrast  between  the 
genuine  simplicity  of  La  Fontaine's  fables  and  the  some- 
what artificial  milieu  of  pastoral  novels  like  the  Astree. 
Yet  on  examining  the  question  more  closely,  we  discover, 
behind  the  difference  in  form  and  expression,  more  re- 
semblances in  the  fundamental  inspiration  than  one  might 
at  first  anticipate. 

In  the  whole  Astree  but  one  real  fable  is  told.  It  is  the 
old,  old  theme  of  "  the  mice,  the  cat  and  the  bell,"  which 
occurs  in  a  very  pretty  passage.  Diane  is  discussing  with 
her  friends  the  question  of  marriages  of  convenience — a 
favorite  theme  with  many  novels  of  the  time.  She  wisely 
warns  her  companions  not  to  declaim  too  passionately 
against  a  social  convention  which  they  would  refuse  to  dis- 
regard themselves : 

Encores  que  nous  en  recognoissions,  &  vous  &  moy,  la  verite, 
parce  que  par  le  commun  consentiment  de  tous  il  est  iuge 
autrement,  ny  vous  ny  moy  ne  voulons  point  estre  la  premiere 

Z7 


38  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

a  rompre  cette  glace.  Et  cela  me  fait  ressouuenir  du  conseil 
des  rats  qui  ressolurent  que,  pour  leur  seurete,  il  falloit  at- 
tacher  au  col  d'vn  Chat  qui  les  deuoroit  vne  sonette,  afin 
de  I'ouir  quand  il  marcheroit :  mais  il  ne  s'en  trouua  point 
d'assez  hardy  dans  toute  la  trouppe  qui  I'osast  entreprendre.^ 

Diane's  manner  of  proceeding  is  of  the  good  old  school: 
The  speaker  advances  his  opinion  on  a  certain  subject  and 
then  sums  up  his  arguments  in  a  little  apologue  which,  be- 
cause of  its  epigrammatic  brevity,  does  not  fail  to  produce 
a  great  impression  upon  the  hearers.  The  fable  here  is 
therefore  merely  a  clever  rhetorical  artifice;  the  action  itself 
and  the  way  in  which  the  story  is  told  is  of  secondary 
importance. 

IL 

In  the  search  for  characteristic  features  which  might  link 
the  Astrce  with  La  Fontaine's  fables,  it  is  not  very  prob- 
able that  we  shall  find  them  in  epics  like  Les  aniuiaux  mala- 
des  de  la  peste,  or  in  dramas  like  Le  chene  et  le  roseau.  We 
are  more  likely  to  meet  with  them,  first  of  all,  in  fables  of 
lesser  fame,  in  passages  in  which  a  certain  precieux  tone 
prevails — precieux  taken  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  shepherds  represented  in  La 
Fontaine's  fables :  The  first  are  the  real  ones,  at  whose 
"  conceptions  "  and  "  parolles  "  the  author  of  the  Astree 
would  scoff,  whom  he  would  consider  as  "  Bergers  necessi- 
teux  qui  pour  gagner  leur  vie  conduisent  les  trouppaux  aux 

'  Astr.,  Ill,  5,  p.  409.  It  is  unnecessary  to  recall  the  terrible  cat, 
"  nomme  Rodilardus  "  which  spreads  havoc  among  the  rats  in  La  Fon- 
taine (Fab.,  II,  2).  Very  rarely  short  references  to  well-known  fables 
occur  in  the  Astree;  cf.  Celadon's  reproaches  to  Sylvandre  in  Astr., 
V,  9.  p.  677:  "  Vrayement,  vous  ne  ressemblez  pas  mal  a  celuy  qui 
apres  auoir  este  receu  pour  compagnon  au  partage  d'vn  tresor,  s'en 
voudroi*  enfin  rendre  maistre,  &  chasser  celuy  qui  luy  auroit  fait  part 
de  sa  fortune." 


LA  FONTAINE'S  FABLES  ^g 

pasturages."  ^  But  La  Fontaine's  full  sympathy  goes  with 
them,  and  he  carefully  observes  their  life  and  all  their  pecu- 
liarities. They  have  common  names,  like  Guillot  or  Pierrot, 
and  are  clad  in  rags.  Their  work  is  wearisome;  only 
when  the  flocks  and  the  dogs  are  dozing  in  the  glaring  mid- 
day sun,  can  they,  too,  enjoy  a  short  rest.  But  then  the 
wolf,  their  eternal  enemy,  overtakes  them  unawares  and 
often  gets  the  best  of  them.  Their  flocks  are  their  pride 
and  love;  yet  there  is  little  sentimentality  about  them,  for 
if  they  see  a  chance  to  make  a  better  living,  they  take  ad- 
vantage of  it.^ 

On  the  other  hand,  w'e  also  have  in  the  fables  the  con- 
ventional shepherd  of  the  pastorals.  For  him  the  shepherd- 
costume  is  merely  picturesque ;  he  attends  to  the  flocks  only 
when  there  is  nothing  else  to  do,  and  his  name  is  always  of 
Greek  derivation.  He  appears  almost  exclusively  in  love 
idyls,  with  some  fair  shepherdess  who  shares  all  his  re- 
finements.    Thus 

...  La  jalouse  Amarylle 
'Songeait  a  son  Alcippe,  et  croyait  de  ses  soins 
N'avoir  que  ses  moutons  et  son  chien  pour  temoins. 
Tircis  qui  I'appergut,  se  glisse  entre  les  saules ; 
II  entend  la  bergere  adressant  ces  paroles 

Au  doux  Zephire,  et  le  priant 

De  les  porter  a  son  amant.  .  .  .^ 

Is  this  not  like  countless  scenes  from  the  Astrcef  Has 
not  Messire  d'Urfe  told  us  all  about  the  adventures  of 
Celadon's  parents,  of  jealous  Amarylle  and  her  valiant 
Alcippe?*  And  how  often  have  w^e  not  surprised  Laonice, 
Tircis'    jilted    sweetheart,    or    even    the    wise    Sylvandre, 

*  Preface  to  the  first  part:  L'Authetir  a  la  Bergere  Astree. 
^Cf.  Fables,  III,  3;  IV,  2;  X,  9;  VI,  i  and  2;  IX,  19;  IV,  2. 

*  Fab.,  II,  I,  Contre  ceux  qui  out  le  gout  difficile,  v.  39  ff. 

*  Astr.,  I,  2. 


40 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 


hidden  behind  bushes,  overhearing  the  secrets  of  their 
lovers  ?  ^ 

Another  scene  in  the  Fables:  Tircis  and  Amaranthe  dis- 
cussing love — the  eternal  subject  of  shepherds.  Hear  how 
the  knowing  Tircis  describes  to  innocent  Amaranthe  the 
dolce  affanno : 

Ah !  si  vous  connaissiez,  comme  moi,  certain  mal 

Qui  nous  plait  et  qui  nous  enchante ! 
II  n'est  bien  sous  le  del  qui  vous  parut  egal.  .  .  .^ 

And  in  the  Astree?  The  very  children  ^  philosophise 
like  grown-up  people  upon  the  same  inexhaustible  theme; 
they  display  naive  coquetry,  like  La  Fontaine's  couple,  only 
the  epigrammatic  pointe  is  lacking.  But  the  naivete  of 
these  precocious  lovers  in  the  Astree  is  artificial ;  the  style  is 
precieux  of  the  extreme  kind,  and  these  passages  belong  to 
those  that  have  aged  the  quickest,  while  La  Fontaine's 
delightful  mockery  with  its  discreetly  precieux  touches  has 
lost  nothing  of  its  pristine  charm. 

The  evoking  of  pastoral  souvenirs  in  this  fable  (ca.  1674) 

^  Astr.,  I,  8,  p.  567. 

*  Fab.,  VIII,  13,  V.  31  fif.,  Tircis  et  Amaranthe. 

3  See  Astr.,  Ill,  12,  p.  1122  ff.,  where  the  children  belong  to  the  aris- 
tocracy. In  Astr.,  IV,  3,  p.  196  ff.,  the  children  are  of  simple  peasant 
stock,  but  they  talk  in  the  same  stilted  manner.  In  Astr.,  V,  4,  p. 
279  ff..  Chevalier  Clorian  asks  the  seven-year-old  Circene :  "  le  m'es- 
tonne  comme  il  est  possible  que  ma  petite  maistresse  ait  besoin  de  se 
chauffer  parce  qu'elle  est  capable  de  faire  brusler  tout  le  monde." 
Also  Vergil's  Damon  is  a  mere  child  when  he  falls  in  love  with  his 
Nisa : 

.'\ltcr  ab  undecimo  turn   me  iam  acceperat  anno. 

(Eel.,  VIII,  V.  39,  and  Gr.  £cr..  Vol.  II,  p.  278,  note  16.)  Tircis'  speech 
is  partly  an  amplification  of  the  exquisite  verses  in  Aminta,  I,  2:  "A 
poco  a  poco  nacque  nel  mio  petto.  .  .  ."  Cf.  A.  Salza,  Astusie  e  con- 
trasegne  d'Amore  nel  Tasso  e  ne'suoi  iniitatori,  in  Rass.  Bibl.  della 
Lett.  Ital.,  XII,  1909,  p.  135. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  FABLES  4 1 

was  especially  appropriate,  since  the  idyl  is  dedicated  to  a 
young  precieuse,  Mile,  de  Sillery,  La  Rochefoucauld's 
niece.  She  probably  took  the  same  delight  in  pastoral 
novels,  as  did  the  author  of  the  Maximcs  himself.^  The 
verses  (45  fif.)  : 

Se  mire-t-on  pres  d'un  rivage 
Ce  n'est  pas  soi  qu'on  voit ;  on  ne  voit  qu'une  image 
Qui  sans  cesse  revient,  et  qui  suit  en  tous  lieux : 

Pour  tout  le  reste  on  est  sans  yeux — 

very  likely  recalled  to  her  mind  the  magic  power  of  the 
Fontaine  de  la  Verite  d' Amour. 

Of  a  certain  significance  is  the  little  pastoral  picture 
which  La  Fontaine  sketches  in  Les  compagnons  d'Ulysse 
(Fab.  XII,  i).  One  of  the  companions  has  been  changed 
by  Circe  into  a  wolf,  and  Ulysses  addresses  to  him  the 
following  remonstrance  (v.  79  ff.)  : 

Camarade,  je  suis  confus 
Qu'une  jeune  et  belle  bergere 
Conte  aux  echos  les  appetits  gloutons 
Qui  t'ont  fait  manger  ses  moutons. 
Autrefois  on  t'eiit  vu  sauver  la  bergerie : 
Tu  menais  une  honnete  vie. 

The  unexpected  appearance  of  the  bergere  in  this  bitter 
satire  on  human  nature  is  certainly  a  striking  illustration 
of  the  fact  that  La  Fontaine  always  and  everywhere  de- 
lights in  evoking  pastoral  reminiscences.  Neither  here 
nor  in  any  other  of  the  quoted  passages  did  he  find  them 
in  his  sources,  and  Tircis  et  Amarante  is  practically  La 
Fontaine's  own  invention.^ 

*  Cf.  Dunlop,  Hist,  of  Fiction,  new  edition  by  H.  Wilson,  London, 
1906,  Vol.  II,  p.  393. 

'  We  refer  here  to  Damon  et  Alcimadure  (XII,  24),  an  imitation  of 
the  Pseudo-Theocritan  idyl  XXIII,  where  the  Greek  original  again 
contains    no    pastoral    suggestions.      Here    belongs    also    the    musician 


42 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 


But  one  thing  is  important  to  note :  La  Fontaine,  the 
poet  of  the  natural,  the  enemy  of  all  sham,  realized  the 
futility  which  is  inherent  in  the  pastoral  genre  after  all, 
and  he  treated  it  accordingly,  as  a  matter  of  secondary  im- 
portance/ Usually,  there  is  a  good  deal  of  irony,  of  good- 
natured  raillery  in  these  pastoral  scenes  of  the  conven- 
tional style. 

III. 

On  the  other  hand,  whenever  La  Fontaine  feels  that  the 
pastoral  romances  express  with  sincerity  a  sentiment  which 
he  has  himself  at  heart,  he  freely  allows  his  genius  to  seek 
serious  inspiration  in  them.  \\'e  firmly  believe  that  several 
of  the  most  admired  passages  of  the  Fables  can  be  brought 
into  rather  close  connection  with  his  favorite  pastoral 
romance,  the  Astree.  However,  it  must  always  be  borne 
in  mind  what  La  Fontaine  himself  says  about  his  sources, 
especially  the  classic  sources,  in  the  often  quoted  lines  of 
the  Epitre  a  Huet  (vv.  21-32)  : 

Quelques  imitateurs,  sot  betail,  je  I'avoue, 
Suivent  en  vrais  moutons  le  pasteur  de  Mantoue ; 
J'en  use  d'au're  sorte,  et,  me  laissant  guider, 
Souvent  a  marcher  seul  j'ose  me  hasarder. 
On  me  verra  toujours  pratiquer  cet  usage; 
Mon  imitation  n'est  point  un  esclavage. 

Tircis  in  Les  poissons  et  le  herger  qui  joue  de  la  flute  (x,  10),  and  the 
little  eclogue  of  unknown  date  {Gr.  £cr.,  VIII,  pp.  460-464)  in  which 
the  opening  lines  recall  the  conflict  between  Astree  and  Celadon : 

Clymene : 

"  Je  ne  veux  plus  aimer,  j'en  ai  fait  un  serment : 
Lysis  vient  de  louer  en  ma  presence  Aminte." 

•  In  Ceux  qui  out  le  gout  difficile  (II,  i),  for  instance,  he  begins  with 
an  ornate  description  of  an  epic  scene,  the  Trojan  horse;  then  he 
"  baisse  «run  ton",  and  the  pastoral  idyl  follows.  His  model  Phaedrus 
(IV,  7)  depicts  only  an  epic  scene,  the  expedition  of  the  Argonauts. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  FABLES  ^^ 

Je  ne  prcnds  que  I'idee  et  les  tours  et  les  lois 

Que  nos  maitres  suivaient  cux-memes  autrefois. 

Si  d'ailleurs  quelque  endroit  plein  chez  eux  d'excellence 

Peut  en'rer  dans  mes  vers  sans  nulle  violence, 

Je  I'y  transporte,  et  veux  qu'il  n'ait  rien  d'affecte, 

Tachant  de  rendrc  mien  cet   air   d'antiquite. 

The  fable  Les  deux  pigeons  (IX,  2)  is  considered  by 
Taine  and  Sainte-Beitve  as  the  masterpiece  of  the  free 
genre,  of  the  poetic  fable.  ^  La  Fontaine's  source  was  Gaul- 
main's  translation  of  the  Livre  des  luniieres  on  la  condiiite 
des  rois,  compose  par  le  sage  Pilpay,  Indien.'  Taine,  as 
Mr.  Regnier  recalls  in  his  Notice,  compared  La  Fontaine's 
fable  with  the  oriental  version  and  found  the  latter  "  une 
litanie  sententieuse  qui  ne  laisse  a  I'auditeur  aucune  im- 
pression   precise,"  ^    while    La    Fontaine's    fable,    to    him, 

*  Causeries  du  Lundi,  XIII,  p.  19. 

^  Paris,  1644.  Cf.  Chauvin,  Bib'.iogr.  des  Ouvr.  Arabes  ou  relat.  aux 
Arabes,  Liege,  i8g2,  Vol.  II,  pp.  33-34  and  113-114,  on  the  origin  of 
Gaulmain's  translation.  He  shows  that  our  fable  did  not  figure  in  the 
original  Kalilah  and  Dininah,  but  was  an  addition  of  the  Persian 
Anwdri,  the  version  which  Gaulmain  translated.  Benfey  (Pantsrha- 
tantra,  Vol.  II,  p.  528)  makes  clear  its  ultimate  Indian,  buddhistic 
origin. 

*  Taine,  perhaps,  does  not  do  full  justice  to  the  Livre  des  luniieres. 
The  complain's  of  the  lover  do  make  us  think  of  La  Fontaine  and  are 
really  touching:  '"  O  cher  compagnon !  vous  n'avez  jamais  endure  les 
fatigues  des  voyages,  et  ne  savez  pas  ce  que  c'est  d'etre  dans  les  pays 
e;  rangers.  Le  voyage  est  un  arbre  qui  ne  donne  autre  fruit  que  des 
inquietudes.  .  .  .  Le  plaisir  des  voyages  n'est  agreable  qu'avec  les 
amis,  et  lorsqu'on  est  separe  d'eux,  on  a  double  tourment,  I'un  de 
ressentir  la  douleur  de  la  separation  de  ce  qu'on  aime,  et  I'autre  d'en- 
durer  les  injures  du  temps.  Ne  quittez  done  point  le  lieu  de  votre 
repos  et  ne  vous  separez  point  de  I'objet  que  vous  aimez."  The  answer 
of  the  beloved  one,  on  the  contrary,  is  cold  and  deserves  Taine's  criti- 
cism. Taine's  unfavorable  judgment  is  in  part,  perhaps,  due  to  the 
fact  that  he  quoted  not  from  the  Lizre  des  luniieres  which  La  Fon- 
taine used  {cf.  the  text  in  Gr.  £x:r.,  Ill,  pp.  512-515),  but  from  the 
Fables  de  Pilpay  (1698),  the  second  ed.  of  Gaulmain's  Livre  des  lunii- 
eres, where  the  slightly  different  text  is  indeed  somewhat  prosaic. 
Cf.  Taine,  La  Fontaine  et  ses  fables,  pp.  258-261. 


44 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E  " 


evokes  Vergilian  visions.  He  has  in  mind  this  touching 
lament  of  the  dove  (vv.  5-17)  : 

....  Qu'allez-vous   faire? 

Voulez-vous  quitter  votre  frere? 

L' absence  est  le  plus  grand  des  maux : 
Non  pas  pour  vous,  cruel !     Au  moins  que  les  travaux, 

Les  dangers,  les  soins  de  voyage, 

Changent  un  peu  votre  courage. 
Encor  si  la  saison  s'avangait  davantage ! 
Attendez  les  zephirs :  qui  vous  presse?  un  corbeau 
Tout  a  I'heure  annongait  malheur  a  quelque  oiseau. 
Je  ne  songerai  plus  que  rencontre  funeste, 
Que  faucons,  que  resaux.     "  Helas !  dirai-je,  il  pleut: 

"  Mon  frere  a-t-il  tout  ce  qu'il  veut, 

"Bon  souper,  bon  gite  et  le  reste?" 

But  to  find  a  truly  elegiac  tone,  we  need  not  be  reminded 
of  Dido  and  Aeneas  by  Taine,  nor  of  Tibullus  by  La 
Harpe.^  We  find  a  remarkable  instance  of  it  in  the  very 
preface  to  the  Astree :  L'Autheur  a  la  Bergere  Astree.  The 
gentle  shepherdess  has  made  up  her  mind  to  leave  her 
friend,  the  author,  and  to  seek  adventures  in  the  wide 
world.     The  ''  autheur  "  rebukes  her  in  these  words: 

II  n'y  a  done  rien,  ma  Bergere,  qui  te  puisse  plus  longuement 
arrester  pres  de  moy?  II  te  fasche,  dis-tu,  de  demeurer  plus 
long-temps  prisionniere  dans  les  recoins  d'vn.  solitaire  cabinet, 
&  de  passer  ainsi  ton  age  inutilement.  II  ne  sied  pas  bien, 
mon  cher  enfant,  a  vne  fille  bien  nee  de  courre  de  cette  sorte, 
&  seroit  plus  a  propos  que  te  renfermant  ou  parmy  les  Vestales 
&  Druydes,  ou  dans  les  murs  priuez  des  affaires  domestiques, 
tu  laissasses  doucement  couler  le  reste  de  ta  vie:  car  entre 
les  filles  celle-la  doit  estre  la  plus  estimee  dont  on  parle  le 
moins."  ^     Si  tu   s(;auois  quelles  sent  les  peines  &  difficultez 

'  La  Harpe,  Coiirs  de  IJtt.  Dramat.,  Paris,  1821,  Vol.  VII,  p.  153: 
"  On  croit  entendre  les  soupirs  de  Tibulle." 

*  Cf.  Thucydides,  book  II,  ch.  45:  "■  M.FyaX7j  7}  M^n  ^r  nv  en'  eTiaxiOTov 
hpiTJj^  irtpi  f/  ipdyov  iv  rol^  hpatai  k'Aeo^  y." 


LA  FONTAINE'S  FABLES   .  4c 

qui  se  rencontrent  le  long  clu  chemin  que  tu  entreprens,  quels 
monstres  horribles  y  vont  attendant  les  passans  pour  les  de- 
uorer,  &  combien  il  y  en  a  eu  peu  qui  ayent  rapporte  du 
contentement  de  semblable  voyage,  peut-estre  t'arresterois-tu 
sagement,  ou  tu  as  este  si  loguement  &  doucement  cherie. 
Mais  ta  jeunesse  imprudente,  &  qui  n'a  point  d'experience  de 
ce  que  ie  te  dis,  te  figure  peut-estre  des  gloires  &  des  vanitez 
qui  produisent  ce  desir.  Ie  voy  bien  qu'elle  te  dit  que  tu  n'es 
pas  si  desagreable,  ny  d'vn  visage  si  estrange,  que  tu  ne  puisses 
te  faire  aymer  a  ceux  qui  te  verront  .  .  .  .Toutefois,  puisque 
ta  resolution  est  telle,  &  que  si  ie  m'y  oppose,  tu  me  menaces 
d'vne  prompte  desobeissance,  ressouuiens-toy  pour  le  moins 
que  ce  n'est  point  par  volonte,  mais  par  souffrance  que  ie  te  le 
permets. 

The  similarity  is  certainly  striking.  Not  only  is  the 
situation  exactly  parallel,  but  the  sentiments  expressed  are 
also  the  same:  the  impatience  of  the  shepherdess,  her  un- 
rest, her  curiosity  remind  us  of  La  Fontaine's  adventurous 
dove,  and,  likewise,  the  good  advice  of  the  author  in  one 
case,  of  the  friend  in  the  other,  is  identical.  The  peines  & 
dMcnltez  qui  se  rencontrent  le  long  du  chemin,  the  monstres 
horribles  qui  vont  attendant  les  passans  pour  les  deuorer — 
in  La  Fontaine  become  travaux,  dangers,  soins  de 
voyage,  faucons  and  reseaux.  The  complaints  of  the  Au- 
theur  are  undeniably  more  akin  to  the  melancholy  utter- 
ances of  La  Fontaine's  dove  than  the  text  he  found  in  the 
Livre  des  liunieres} 

Indeed,  the  very  circumstances  in  which  the  Astree  and 
the  Deux  pigeons  were  written,  seem  to  be  identical.  Urfe 
composed  a  large  part  of  his  novel  in  remembrance  of  the 
love  of  his  youth;  he  is  carried  back  in  melancholy  thoughts 

*  I  owe  this  interes'ing  parallel  to  my  teacher,  Prof.  Dr.  Jules  Simon, 
of  the  University  of  Munich,  who  first  discovered  the  similarity  and 
kindly  allowed  me  to  use  his  notes  on  the  subject. 


46  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

to  the  happy  days  spent  on  the  banks  of  the  Lignon;  he 
recalls  his  turbulent  life,  his  long  waiting  for  the  beloved 
one,  and  the  final  disenchantment  And  La  Fontaine? 
In  his  life,  too,  love  had  played  an  important  part — we 
need  only  recall  his  elegies,  in  which  his  mistresses  figure 
in  goodly  number.  But  among  these  fugitive  inclinations, 
there  seems  to  have  been  one  greater  and  deeper  passion, 
which,  having  already  passed  his  fiftieth  year,  he  recalls  in 
our  fable.  And  again,  pastoral  reminiscences  come  to  him ; 
he  represents  himself  as  a  shepherd  and  his  true-love 
becomes  a  shepherdess  : 

J'ai  quelquefois  aime :  je  n'aurais  pas  alors 

Centre  le  Louvre  et  ses  tresors, 
Centre  le  firmament  et  sa  vou'ic  celeste, 

Change  les  bois,  change  les  lieux 
Honores  par  les  pas,  eclaires  par  les  yeux 

De  I'aimable  et  jeune  Bergere 

Pour  qui,  sous  le  fils  de  Cythere, 
Je  servis,  engage  par  mes  premiers  serments. 

Thus  we  understand  the  tone  of  these  exquisite  verses 
which  the  abbe  Gouillon  found  "  trop  hyperboliques,  bons 
pour  les  £gle  de  Ronsard  et  de  Voiture."  ^     Indeed,  the 

^  He  refers  especially  to  the  verse  Honores  par  les  pas.  .  .  .  The 
Astree  contains  several  examples  of  this  conceit.  Thus  in  Celadon's 
Ressouvenir: 

Dega  premierement  reluit 

Le  Soleil  que  mon  coeur  adore, 

Apportant  auec  luy  le  iour 

A  ces  campagnes  qu'il  honore. 

(stanza  I,  Astr.,  I,  12,  p.  861  ff.),  or  in  Silvandre's  Monde  d' Amour, 
St.  10: 

Le  Soleil,  c'est  vostre  ceil,  sans  lumiere  seconde: 
Bel  ceil,  Soleil  d'Amour,  qui  nous  eclaire  a  tons; 
Que  si  I'autre  Soleil  donne  la  vie  au  Monde, 
Quel  Amant  peut  nier  de  la  tenir  de  vous? 

(Astr.,  II,  7,  p.  54I-) 


LA  FONTAINE'S  FABLES  47 

verses  are  precieux,  but  prccieiix  of  a  kind  which  only  La 
Fontaine  could  write,  a  poet  who  knew  how  to  ennoble  old, 
well-worn  commonplaces,  and  to  adapt  them  to  the  ex- 
pression of  his  sincerest  emotions. 

IV. 

Besides  this  personal  note  in  the  expression  of  love,  as 
we  found  it  in  the  Deux  pigeons,  La  Fontaine's  feeling  for 
nature,  his  longing  for  a  restful  life  in  the  midst  of  its 
tranquil  beauties,  his  often  expressed  desire  to  flee  court 
life  with  its  ambitions  and  its  vicissitudes  are  often  con- 
sidered as  features  which,  among  the  lyric  poets  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  belong  almost  exclusively  to  him.^  But 
the  Astree  repeatedly  expresses  similar  feelings  with  sin- 
cerity and  dignity,  and  again  we  are  inclined  to  believe  that 
La  Fontaine  found  his  inspiration  not  only  in  his  own 
genius,  but  that  he  is  indebted,  to  a  certain  extent,  to 
several  passages  of  the  Astree. 

As  to  the  feeling  for  nature  in  itself,  the  two  poets  are. 
of  course,  entirely  original.  Each  one  felt  "  the  god  with- 
in ",  and  expressed  his  sentiments  according  to  his  tempera- 
ment. This  will  clearly  appear  from  a  comparison  of 
Urfe's  landscape  and  pastoral  scenery  with  the  rustic 
scenes  of  La  Fontaine's  fables. 

^  As  his  most  important  predecessor  Racan  is  usually  mentioned ; 
cf.  Cans,  du  Lundi,  tome  VIII,  p.  61.  The  intimate  relations  wh'ch 
link  Racan  on  the  one  hand  wi'h  the  Astree,  on  the  other  with  La  Fon- 
taine, have  been  studied  by  M.  L.  Arnould  in  his  well-known  thesis 
Racan,  Paris,  1896,  pp.  203  ff.  and  523.  Nevertheless,  the  author  comes 
to  the  conclusion  that  Racan  is  "un  isole  au  i-e  siecle",  and  tha'  he  is  not 
immediately  connected  with  the  general  development  of  French  poetry. 
Is  it  not  permissible  to  assume  a  continuous  current  of  poetic  inspir- 
ation, which  would  lead  from  the  Pleiade  over  the  Astree  to  Racan 
and  then  to  La  Fon'aine — a  filiation  which  M.  Arnould  himself  impli- 
cite  advocates  in  the  passages  quoted? 


48  ^A  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

M.  Doumic  ^  sums  up  the  characteristic  feature  of  Urfe's 
landscapes  in  these  words :  "  Ces  descriptions  sont  un 
charme  du  livre :  elles  ont  rendu  celebre  le  modeste  cours 
du  Lignon.  La  nature  telle  que  I'a  depeinte  d'Urfe,  est 
tranquille,  douce,  sans  grand  relief  ni  couleurs  tres 
vives,  celebree  moins  en  elle-meme  et  pour  ses  beautes  que 
par  rapport  a  I'homme  et  pour  le  calme  d'esprit  qu'elle 
favorise." 

The  latter  trait  constitutes  a  characteristic  difference  be-' 
tween  Urfe  and  La  Fontaine.  The  latter,  in  many  of  the 
fables,  is  entirely  modern  in  his  attitude  toward  nature; 
he  loves  and  describes  its  beauties  for  their  own  sake,  prac- 
tically disregarding  the  sentimental  relation  to  mankind. 
Thus  in  L'alouette  et  ses  petits  (IV,  22),  with  its  vernal 
breezes  and  waving  cornfields,  and  in  the  Discoiirs  a 
M.  le  due  de  La  Rochefoucaidd  (X,  14),  with  the  famous 
scene : 

Les  lapins  qui,  sur  la  bruyere, 
L'oeil  eveille,  I'oreille  au  guet, 
S'egayaient  et  de  thym  parfumaient  leur  banquet. 

Thus  finally  in  the  Forct  et  le  biicheron  (XII,  14),  where 
the  trees  have  a  human  soul  and  sigh  under  the  cruel  blows 
of  the  axe. 

In  the  Astree,  as  M.  Doumic  tells  us,  we  hardly  find  such 
plastic  pictures,  which  seem  to  depict  in  a  few  strokes, 
the  whole  complexity  of  animal  life."  Yet  Urfe  also  feels 
the  beauty  of  nature,  though  the  expression  may  be  differ- 

*  Histoire  de  la  litt.  franq.,  Paris,  1909,  26th  ed.,  p.  291. 

*  There  is,  however,  one  passage  in  the  Astree  which  betrays  Urfe's 
keen  observation  of  the  details  of  animal  life,  ihe  description  of  the 
pictures  in  the  grotto  of  Damon  and  Fortune  {Astr.,  I,  11).  For  a 
full  treatment  of  this  very  important  passage,  see  below,  ch.  VII,  p. 
78  ff. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  FABLES  4q 

ent.     The  following  description  of  a  thick  forest  is  per- 
haps not  devoid  of  a  certain  picturesque  element: 

Sur  le  penchant  du  vallon  voisin,  duquel  ce  petit  ruisseau 
arrouse  le  pied,  il  s'esleue  vn  bocage  espaissi  branchc  sur 
branche  de  diuerses  feuilles  dont  les  cheueux,  n'ayans  iamais 
este  tondu  par  le  fer  a  cause  que  le  bois  est  dedie  a  Diane, 
s'entre-ombrageoient  espandus  I'vn  sur  I'autre,  de  sorte  que 
mal  aisement  pouuoient  ils  estre  percez  du  Soleil  ny  a  son 
leuer,  ny  a  son  coucher,  &  par  ainsi  au  plus  haut  du  midy 
mesme,  vne  chiche  lumiere  d'vn  iour  blafard  y  palissoit  d'or- 
dinaire.^ 

And  that  Urfe  also  admires  a  beautiful  tree  and  the  odd 
forms  which  nature  sometimes  assumes,  appears  from  a 
passage  like  this  : 

•Ce  chesne  veritablement  est  admirable,  dit  Adamas,  luy 
(=Celadon)  montrant  vn  grand  chesne  qui  s'esleuoit  d'vn 
seul  tronc,  &  puis  se  separant  en  trois  branches  les  reunissoit 
en  haut  &  les  resserroit  sous  vne  mesme  escorce." 

Urfe  as  a  landscape  painter  is  especially  praiseworthy. 
Here  he  paints  directly  from  nature,  after  the  impressions 
he  has  received  from  familiar  scenes,  be  it  the  romantic 
valley  of  Vaucluse,  with  its  reminiscences  of  Petrarch,  or 
medieval  Paris  with  the  "  beau  fleuue  de  la  Seine  ",  or 
the  vast  panorama  of  Lyons,  and  its  neighboring  moun- 
tains.^ The  most  careful  descriptions,  however,  are  to  be 
found  in  the  many  passages  dedicated  to  his  cherished  plain 
of  the  Forez.  One  of  these,  the  beautiful  beginning  of  the 
first    part,    is    well    known    through    frequent    quotation.* 

'  Astr.,  I.  5,  p.  294.  '  Astr.,  II,  8,  p.  580. 

»  See  Astr.,  Ill,  3,  pp.  215-221;  ITT,  12,  p.  1123,  and  II.  3,  PP-  I97-I99- 
*  Reure,  p.  3;  also  N.  M.  Bernardin,  Morceaux  Choisis  du  ly^  Steele, 
Paris,  n.  d.,  p.  157. 


50  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

Quite  interesting  is  the  minute  account  of  the  geographical 
situation  of  Montverdun,  in  which  even  the  exact  measure- 
ments of  the  mountain  are  given/  Preferably,  however, 
we  quote  the  pretty  description  of  the  idyllic  spot  near  the 
source  of  the  Lignon,  which  is  the  dwelling  place  of  the 
"  Pasteur  "  Eleumon  and  the  "  sage  Bergere  "  Ericanthe: 

Xon  point  trop  Icing  de  la  source  de  nostre  gentil  Lignon. 
ils  ont  vne  demeure  sur  les  bords  de  cette  delectable  riuiere 
qu'il  semble  que  la  Nature  se  soit  pleue  d'embellir  de  tout  ce 
qui  la  pouuoit  rendre  agreable.  Elle  est  posee  sur  vne  colline 
qui  luy  donne  une  veue  quoy  qu'vn  peu  limitee.  a  cause  des 
autres  petites  montagnes  assez  voisines,  toutes  fois  si  belle 
qu'il  semble  que  ceux  qui  peignent  des  paisages  ayent  pris 
le  patron  sur  la  situation.  Lignon  prend  son  cours  au  bas 
de  cette  coste.  que  de  pres  d"vn  coste  &  d'autre  vont  accom- 
pagnant,  presque  autant  que  la  veue  se  peut  estendre.  les 
saussayes  qui  separent  ces  prez.  &  les  petits  fossez,  par  lesquels 
on  desrobe  les  claires  eaux  de  Lignon.  semblent  autant  de 
petits  ruisseaux  qui  vont  abbreuuant  ces  belles  prairies.  Tout 
le  penchant  de  la  colline  est  couuert  de  I'ombrage  de  quantite 
d'arbres  disposez  en  allees.  par  lesquelles  on  descend  sans 
incommodite  du  Soleil  ny  de  la  descente.  iusques  sur  I'agreable 
riuage  de  cette  claire  riuiere,  que  les  fleurs  presque  en  tout 
temps  esmaillent  de  cent  diuerses  couleurs,  les  Rossignols 
qui  semblent  auoir  choisi  ce  lieu  pour  leur  demeure  ordinaire, 
le  peuplent  de  telle  sorte.  qu'on  iugeroit,  a  ouyr  les  diuerses 
choeurs  qui  se  respondent  a  la  voix  les  vns  aux  autres.  qu'ils 
ont  abandonne  tous  les  autres  endroits  de  la  contree  pour  a 
Tenuy  venir  chanter  parmy  ces  arbres :  &  la  Nature,  a  tant  de 
graces  n'ayant  pas  voulu  estre  auare  de  ce  qui  pouuoit  embellir 
entierement  ce  lieu,  y  a  fait  sourdre  tant  de  fontaines  tout  le 
long  de  ce  penchant,  qu'on  dit  qu'elles  y  sont  conduites  par 
artifice :  bref,  ce  lieu  est  la  delice  &  le  plaisir  de  tous  les 
hameaux  voisins  ou  presque  tant  que  le  beau  temps  le  per- 

'  Asir..  II,  8,  p.  562. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  FABLES  cj 

met,  il  y  a  ordinairement  vn  grand  concours  du  peuple  & 
mesme  les  iours  qui  sont  particulierenient  dediez  a  quclque 
resiouissance.^ 

Besides  these  detailed  descriptions  of  definite  scenery, 
we  find  many  shorter  scenes  of  a  more  pastoral  character. 
When  we  read  of  Diane,  "  endormie  a  la  fontaine  des 
Sicomores  ou  la  fraischeur  de  I'ombrage  &  le  doiix  gazouil- 
lement  de  I'onde  I'auoient  sur  le  haut  du  iour  assoupie  "  ^ — 
do  we  not  see,  before  our  eyes,  the  whole  quiet  landscape 
of  this  happy  Arcadia?  Again,  how  pretty  is  the  idyl  of 
the  cherry  tree :  Sylvandre  invites  the  company  to  rest  in  a 
shady  spot,  "  pour  passer  cette  grande  chaleur  du  Soleil  " : 

II  seroit  impossible,  respondit  Syluandre,  qu'en  tout  le  bois 
on  pust  rencontrer  vne  place  plus  commode  que  celle  de  la 
source  de  ce  petit  ruisseau  que  vous  voyez :  car  la  fraischeur 
de  I'ombre,  &  le  doux  murmure  de  I'eau  qui  coule  parmy  le 
grauier  conuie  chacun  a  s'y  arrester.  .  .  .  D'abord  chacun  mit 
les  mains  dans  la  fontaine,  &  n'y  eust  celuy  qui  n'en  prist  dans 
la  bouche  pour  se  rafraischir,  &  puis  choisissant  les  places  les 
plus  commodes,  ils  s'assirent  tous  a  I'entour  de  cette  belle 
source,    hormis    Siluandre,    qui    estant    monte    sur    vn   grand 

*  Astr.,  IV,  6,  pp.  506-507,  Hist,  de  Delphire  &  de  Dorisce.  For 
other  descriptions  see  Astr.,  II,  12,  p.  880  (a  tempest  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean) ;  Astr.,  Ill,  4,  p.  341  (Forez,  the  ideal  country)  ;  Astr.,  Ill, 
6,  p.  473  ff.  (the  Forez).  Rather  striking  is  the  contrast  to  be  found 
in  the  landscapes  and  descriptions  of  the  Conclusioti,  in  which  a  de- 
cidedly precieux  tone  prevails,  with  metaphors  and  mythological 
reminiscences — a  method  used  by  Boccaccio  several  times  in  ihe  Fiani- 
metta,  and  to  be  found  also  in  the  novels  of  Mile,  de  Scudery.  Cf. 
Astr.,  V,  3,  p.  236;  ib.,  7,  p.  544;  ib.,  8,  pp.  587  and  596-597;  ib.,  9,  p. 
694  ff.  (the  scene  of  Tircis  and  Laonice  retiring  to  the  woods).  Fiam- 
metta,  bilingual  ed.,  Paris,  1609,  begin,  of  book  6,  p.  375a  flf.  Clelie, 
begin,  of  the  novel.  For  other  descriptions  in  Scudery's  novels  see 
Lotheissen,  Gesch.  der  Franz.  Lift,  im  17.  JJidt.,  part  II.  p.  253 
(Vienna,  1897,  2d  edition). 

*  Astr.,  I,  6,  p.  407. 


52 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 


cerisier,  qui  mesme  leur  faisoit  vne  partie  de  I'ombrage,  leur 
iettoit  en  bas  des  branches  chargees  de  fruits.^ 

But  often  enough  the  happiness  of  the  shepherds  is  dis- 
turbed by  sorrows  and  jealousies.  They  then  retire  into 
the  woods  to  be  alone  with  their  grief,  and  surrounding 
Nature  is  often  brought  into  relation  with  their  moods. 
Thus  "  Laonice  se  mit  dans  le  plus  espais  du  bois  pour  se 
plaindre  en  toute  liberte."  "  and  Lycidas  and  others  gain 
"  le  plus  retire  du  bois,  pour  entretenir  leur  pensees."  ^ 

Sylvandre  passes  a  beautiful  night  under  the  starry  sky, 
absorbed  in  thoughts  of  his  beloved  Diana.  The  descrip- 
tion of  a  moonlight  night  which  then  follows,  is  perhaps  one 
of  the  finest  passages  in  the  whole  novel,  only  slightly 
marred  by  two  unnecessary  sonnets : 

Sans  y  penser,  Siluandre  paruient  en  vn  lieu  du  bois,  ou 
les  arbres,  pour  estre  rares,  luy  laisserent  voir  la  Lune.  Elle 
auoit  passe  le  plein  de  quelques  iours,  &  ne  laissoit  toutesfois 
d'esclairer,  de  sorte  que  le  Berger,  oubliant  toute  autre  dessein, 
se  iette  a  genoux  pour  Fadorer.  parce  que  la  conformite  de 
Diane  &  d'elle  luy  commandoit  d'aimer  cet  Astre  sur  tous  ceux 
qui  paroissoient  dans  les  Cieux  .  .  .  La  Lune  alors,  comme 
si  c'eust  este  pour  le  conuier  a  demeurer  dauantage  en  ce  lieu, 
sembla  s'allumer  d'vne  nouuelle  clarte  ...  * 

V. 

But  the  great  gospel  which  the  Astrce  ever  preaches,  is 
the  happiness  of  a  quiet  life  in  the  peace  of  Nature,  undis- 
turbed by  deceitful  ambitions.     Here  the  very  inspiration 

^  Astr.,  11,  4,  p.  222. 

*  Astr.,  I,  7,  p.  474. 

*  Astr.,  I,  7,  pp.  474  and  479. 

*  Astr.,  II,  2,  pp.   128-133;  the  rest  of  the  passage,  still  more  charac- 
teristic, is  quoted  by  Reure,  p.  257. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  FABLES  -3 

of  Urfe  and  of  La  Fontaine  seems  to  meet,  although,  of 
course,  the  thought  is  a  well-known  commonplace  in  many 
literatures. 

The  fables  in  which  La  Fontaine  expresses  this  feeling 
have  so  often  been  commented  upon,  that  the  mere  enum- 
eration of  them,  or  the  quotation  of  a  few  lines  will  suffice. 
There  is  first  L'homme  qui  court  apres  la  Fortune  et 
I'homme  qui  I' attend  dans  son  lit  (VH.  12).  Saint-Marc 
Girardin  has  called  this  fable  "  une  arriere-pensee  des  Deux 
Pigeons".  It  has  no  known  source;  it  grew,  partly  out  of 
La  Fontaine's  inmost  feelings,  partly  out  of  literary  remin- 
iscences from  Horace,  Vergil,  Racan,^  and — as  we  believe 
— the  As  tree : 

Qui  ne  court  apres  la  Fortune? 
Je  voudrais  etre  en  lieu  d'ou  je  puisse  aisement 

Contempler  la  foule  importune 

De  ceux  qui  cherchent  vainement 
Cette  fille  du  sort  de  royaume  en  royaume, 
Fideles  courtisans  d'un  volage  fantome. 

Quand  ils  sont  pres  du  bon  moment, 
L'inconstante  aussitot  a  leurs  desirs  echappe : 
Pauvres  gens!  je  les  plains;  car  on  a  pour  les  fous 

Plus  de  pitie  que  de  courroux. 

And  after  pursuing  the  goddess  of   fortune  in  vain  and 
returning  disenchanted  to  his  home,  the  man  exclaims : 

Heureux  qui  vit  chez  soi, 

De  regler  ses  desirs  f  aisant  tout  son  emploi ! 

II  ne  sait  que  par  ouir  dire 
Ce  que  c'est  que  la  cour,  la  mer,  et  ton  empire, 
Fortune,  qui  nous  fais  passer  devant  les  yeux 
Des  dignites,  des  biens,  que  jusqu'au  bout  du  monde 
On  suit  sans  que  I'effet  aux  promesses  reponde. 
Desormais  je  ne  bouge  et  ferai  cent  fois  mieux. 

The  same  advice  is  given  in  the  Astree :  Celadon's  father 
*  See  the  parallels  given  in  Gr.  £cr.,  Vol.  II,  p.  160  ff. 


54 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 


Alcippe,  at  the  instigation  of  his  mistress  Amarillis,  had 
precipitated  himself  into  the  turbulent  life  of  a  warrior  and 
a  knight  errant  for  seventeen  long  years.  But  he  has  met 
with  many  disappointments,  and  retires  again  to  his  modest 
home,  obeying  the  voice  of  a  good  spirit: 

Mens-ga,  Alcippe,  quel  est  ton  dessein?  N'est-ce  pas  assez 
de  viure  heureux  autant  que  Cloton  fillera  tes  iours?  Si  cela 
est,  ou  penses-tu  trouuer  ce  bien,  sinon  au  repos?  Le  repos, 
ou  peut-il  estre  que  hors  des  affaires?  Les  affaires,  comment 
peuuent-elles  esloigner  Tambition  de  la  Cour,  puis  que  la 
mesme  felicite  de  I'ambition  gist  en  la  pluralite  des  affaires? 
N'as-tu  point  encore  assez  esprouue  I'inconstance  dent  elles 
sont  pleines?  .  .  .  Doncques,  Alcippe,  r'entre  en  toy-mesme, 
&  te  ressouuiens  que  tes  peres  &  ayeuls  ont  este  plus  sages  que 
toy,  ne  veuille  point  estre  plus  auise,  mais  plante  vn  cloud  de 
diamant  a  la  roue  de  ceste  fortune,  que  tu  as  si  souuent  trouuee 
si  muable,  reuiens  au  lieu  de  ta  naissance,  laisse-la  ceste 
pourpre  &  la  change  en  tes  premiers  habits :  que  ceste  lance 
soit  changee  en  houlette,  &  ceste  espee  en  coultre  pour  ouurir 
la  terre,  &  non  pas  le  flanc  des  hommes !  La  tu  trouueras  chez 
toy  le  repos  qu'en  tant  d'annees  tu  n'as  iamais  peu  trouuer 
ailleurs.^ 

The  latter  part  of  this  quotation  is  noteworthy  in  con- 
nection with  another  of  La  Fontaine's  fables.  Is  not  this 
the  same  advice  which  the  shepherd  follows  in  Le  berger 

*  Astr.,  I,  2,  pp.  97-98.  Cf.  also  Astr.,  II,  7,  p.  492 :  Leonide,  "  estant 
lassee  du  tracas  de  la  Cour ",  retires  to  her  uncle  Adamas.  Astr.,  I, 
12,  p.  867 :  Tircis,  the  melancholy  shepherd,  has  left  the  "  riues  her- 
beuses  de  la  glorieuse  Seine  ",  and  has  found  peace  in  the  Forez.  A 
splendid  character  is  the  "  vieil  Druyde "'  in  Astr.,  Ill,  6,  p.  514  flF. : 
"  Ce  bon  vieillard,  en  ses  ieunes  annees,  auoit  comme  les  autres  suiuy 
les  folles  apparences  du  monde :  mais  ayant  espreuue  combien  les  pro- 
messes  en  estoient  menteuses,  il  s'estoit  retire  de  la  frequentation  des 
hommes,  au  sommet  d'vn  petit  rocher  qui  estoit  sur  le  bord  du  fleuue, 
&  pour  vacquer  plus  librement  a  la  contemplation,  s'estoit  entierement 
deffait  de  tous  les  liens  qu'il  auoit  eus  de  ses  ancestres". 


LA  FONTAINE'S  FABLES  cc 

et  Ic  roi  (X,  9),  when  he  is  quite  as  disgusted  with  court 
life  as  is  Alcippe?    Wisely  he  had  kept  his 

Habit  d'un  gardeur  de  troupeaux, 
Petit  chapeau,  jupon,  panneticre,  houlette, 

Et,  je  pense,  aussi  sa  musette. 
"  Doux  tresors,  ce  dit-il,  chers  gages  qui  jamais 
'N'attirates  sur  vous  I'envie  et  le  mensonge, 
Je  vous  reprends :  sortons  de  ces  riches  palais 

Comme  Ton  sortirait  d'un  songe." 

It  is,  perhaps,  significant,  in  view  of  the  passage  quoted 
above  from  the  Astree,  that  La  Fontaine  lets  his  shepherd 
retire  to  his  former  calling,  while  all  the  sources  referred 
to  by  M.  Regnier,  have  an  entirely  different  denouement.'^ 

The  Songe  d'un  habitant  dii  Mogol  (XI,  4)  with  its 
epilogue  inspired  by  Vergil,  and  the  very  last  fable,  Le 
jiige  arhitre,  I' hospitaller  et  le  solitaire  (XII,  25)  com- 
mend again  the  amour  de  la  retraite  in  preference  to  any 
other  kind  of  life.  If  La  Fontaine  thus  sums  up,  in  a  last 
apologue,  his  entire  "  philosophy  of  life  ",  Urfe  favors 
us  with  a  regular  dissertation  upon  the  subject.  In  a  lively 
conversation,  Florice,  an  aristocratic  native  of  Lyons,  de- 
fends the  worldly,  the  chivalrous  milieu,  "  I'esclat  du 
pourpre,  de  la  sole  &  de  Tor,"  while  her  friend  Circeine 
believes  in  the  superiority  of  the  pastoral  life,  "  exempte  de 
peine  &  de  soucis  qui  tounnentent  celles  qui  viuent  dans 
nostre  perpetuelle  confusion."  And  the  advocate  of  the 
pastoral  life  has  the  last  word.^ 

^  The  warning  of  the  consequences  of  ambition  is  a  favorite  theme 
with  La  Fontaine.  See  the  Elegie  a  Fouquet  (vv.  19-44)  5  the  conte 
Joconde  (I.  i,  v.  52  fif.)  ;  the  speech  of  Hortesie  in  Songe  de  Vaux, 
fragm.  2;  and  the  story  of  the  fisherman  in  Psyche,  book  2  (cf.  below, 
ch.  VII). 

*  Astr.,  IV,  2,  p.  88  ff.,  a  conversation  which  recommends  itself  by 
its  comparative  brevity  and  its  elegant  style.  In  this  connection  we 
may  mention  Urfe's  conception  that  love,  among  the  shepherds,  pro- 
duces the  same  fatal  effects  as  docs  ambition  at  court  (<r/.  Celadon's 
speech,  Astr.,  I,  10,  p.  695).  La  Fontaine  nowhere  develops  this 
thought. 


56  ^A  FOXTAIXE  AXD  THE  "ASTR£E" 

VI. 

And  now,  in  conclusion,  let  us  sum  up  the  results  of  our 
comparison :  We:  have  seen  that  La  Fontaine  delights  in 
describing  pastoral  scenes  of  the  conventional  type.  Are 
these,  perhaps,  we  would  ask.  the  images  champetres  to 
which  the  abbe  d'Olivet  referred?  We  also  found  that  his 
sincerest  accents  of  tender  love  or  of  longing  for  solitude 
have  counterparts  in  the  Astrce.  The  passages  which  we 
quoted  from  Urfe  are  neither  obscure  nor  insignificant; 
they  are  important  for  the  author's  conception  of  life  and 
nature;  they  are  of  great  beauty  of  expression  and  thought, 
and  may  well  have  made  an  unusual  impression  upon  the 
fabulist's  mind,  so  open  to  txtvy  sort  of  influence.  In  es- 
tablishing these  parallels,  there  was.  of  course,  no  thought 
of  belittling  La  Fontaine's  originality.  Even  if  our  argu- 
ments, as  to  certain  more  or  less  conscious  reminiscences, 
should  not  appear  acceptable,  there  still  remains  one  fact 
to  be  emphasized :  the  general  identity  of  in- 
spiration of  certain  passages  in  La  Fon- 
taine   and    in    the   A  s  t  r  e  e. 

And  if.  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, there  was  an  author  who  felt  and  expressed  certain 
feelings  similar  to  those  of  La  Fontaine,  and  if  this  author 
was  appreciated  in  his  time,  just  as  La  Fontaine  was  at  a 
later  period,  this  fact  must  necessarily  reflect  upon  their 
contemporaries.  A  period  that  has  successively  applauded 
two  writers  whose  one  characteristic  feature  is  their  love 
of  nature,  cannot  be  said  (as  has  too  often  been  done), 
to  be  itself  averse  to  this  feeling.  ^L  Doumic  is  right  in 
saying:  "  Au  lieu  de  repeter  .  .  .  que  le  ij^  siecle  n'a  pas 
aime  la  nature,  il  serait  plus  juste  de  dire  qu'il  Fa  comprise 
autrement  que  nous,  et  justement  comme  d'Urfe  "  ^ — and 
we  should  like  to  add  "  comme  La  Fontaine." 

*  Hist,  de  la  lift.  Fraiti.,  p.  291. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  FABLES  57 

If,  further,  we  join  to  these  two  names  not  only  Mnie.  de 
Sevigne,  who  is  always  quoted  on  La  Fontaine's  side,  or 
Racine,  who  in  many  a  poem  describes  the  charms  of 
rustic  life,^  but  also  writers  of  lesser  fame,  who  represent 
their  time  only  the  more  faithfully  on  that  account,  like 
Racan,  Maucroix,  Arnould  d'Andilly,  and,  among  the  more 
precieux  authors,  Chapelle  and  Bachaumont,  Chaulieu,  or 
Mme.  Deshoulieres — not  to  speak  of  Saint-Amand,  the 
great  romantic  poet  of  the  period — we  have  indeed  ample 
evidence  that  the  seventeenth  century  was  not  insensible 
to  the  charms  of  nature,  though  it  has  often  expressed  this 
differently  from  our  own  conceptions,  influenced  as  they 
are  by  the  Romantic  School. 

1  Cf.  Sainte-Beuve,  Port-Royal,  Vol.  VI,  p.  89  ff. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
La  Fontaine's  Contes. 

Fundamental  Difference  between  the  Contes  and  the  Astrce — A  few 
Commonplaces — The  Fiancee  du  Roi  de  Garbe  Considered  as  a  Bur- 
lesque of  Chivalrous  and  Pastoral  Romances. 

I. 

While  it  was  quite  possible  to  establish  more  or  less 
definite  literary  relations  between  La  Fontaine's  fables  and 
the  Astree,  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  assume  a  similar 
"  influence  "  of  Urfe's  novel  on  the  Contes,  in  spite  of  the 
several  allusions  to  the  Astree  which  they  contain/  To  be 
sure,  the  Astree  is  richer  in  comic  incidents  than  one  might 
presuppose,^  and  an  author  who  created  the  admirable 
figure  of  the  inconstant  Hylas  is  certainly  not  devoid  of 
humor;  but  the  ultimate  sources  of  inspiration  of  the 
Contes  and  of  the  Astree  are  poles  apart. 

In  the  Contes  we  have  a  curious  combination  of  the  old 
esprit  gaulois  and  the  exuberant  spirit  of  the  Italian  Renais- 
sance. Realism,  irony,  satire,  cynicism  are  at  the  basis 
of  these  often  very  obscene  stories.     Virtue  in  man  and 

*  Cf.  above  ch.  II.  pp.  11-13. 

*  The  comic  effects  are  usually  brought  about  by  the  simplicity  of 
servants  or  peasants.  See  the  puns  and  jokes  of  which  Fleurial,  Gala- 
thee's  gardener,  is  the  object  in  Astr.,  I,  9,  pp.  603  and  642,  or  the  naive 
Lerindas,  another  of  Galathee's  servants,  Astr.,  Ill,  6,  p.  561  ff.,  and 
ib.,  II,  p.  985.  Philandre,  who  is  disguised  as  a  peasant,  quibbles  on 
words,  Astr.,  V,  i,  p.  43  ff.  Among  the  aristocratic  wits  we  may 
mention  Daphnide  and  Delie,  with  their  hoary  jests  on  the  horns  of 
Pan  and  the  moon,  Astr.,  Ill,  3,  p.   196. 

58 


LA  FONTAINE'S  "CONTES"  gg 

purity  in  woman  are  continually  scoffed  at.  Their  re- 
deeming features  are  the  wit  and  elegance  of  expression. 
The  Astree,  on  the  contrary,  is  idealistic  in  its  main  con- 
ception, and  while  there  is  a  Hylas  to  contradict  Sylvandre's 
highflown  theories,  he  is  ultimately  defeated.  Urfc  has 
even,  as  we  have  seen,  a  definite  moral  purpose:  he  wants 
to  glorify  pure,  self-denying  love.  Womanhood  is  always 
respected,  and,  "  la  femme  estant  beaucoup  plus  belle  & 
meilleure  que  I'homme,"  ^  her  superiority  is  acknowledged 
as  an  axiom. 

II. 

But  since  our  "  breviaire  de  courtisans  "  analyses  love  of 
all  kinds,  and  since  in  the  Contes  the  same  problem  is  con- 
sidered in  all  its  complexity,  it  is  evident,  that  merely  for- 
tuitous coincidences  in  the  expression  of  general  thoughts 
may  easily  occur,  being  suggested  by  similar  situations.^ 
Furthermore,  many  thoughts  which  they  share  in  this  man- 
ner are  literary  commonplaces  and  conventions  which  be- 
long to  all  times. 

One  of  the  oldest  of  these  commonplaces  is,  for  instance, 
the  power  of  gifts  in  love-affairs.  Ovid  had  already 
pointed  out  how  necessary  it  is  to  make  presents  both  to 
sweethearts    and    servants.       Similarly,     the    experienced 

1  Astr.,  IV,  3,  p.  189.  See  also  Sylvandre's  dissertation  in  Astr., 
Ill,  9,  PP-  876-877. 

*  How  little  importance  is  to  be  attached  to  "parallels"  of  this  kind 
appears  from  the  fact  that  La  Fontaine  not  infrequently  contradicts 
himself  in  the  most  amusing  way.  If,  for  instance,  in  one  conte  {Pdti 
d'anguille),  he  pretends,  a  second  Hylas:  "  Diversite,  c'est  ma  devise", 
he  holds  in  another  (Joconde,  v.  309)  that  "  Diversite  des  mets  peut 
nuire  a  la  sante  ".  To  his  usual  praise  of  the  virtue  of  the  good  old 
times  (see  above,  ch.  IT,  p.  12)  is  opposed  the  remark  in  Nicaise  vv. 
7-8: 

Bons  bourgeois  des  temps  de  nos  peres 

S'avisaient  tard  d'etre  bons  freres. 


6o  LA  FONTAIXE  AXD  THE  "ASTR£E" 

Dorinde  of  the  Astree,  in  a  long  dissertation,  shows  that 
"  les  dons  rauissent  la  liberte  de  celuy  qui  les  regoit."  ^ 

The  theory  that  marriage  destroys  love,  is  also  developed 
at  length  by  Urf e :  "  L'Amour  clost  bien  souuent  les  yeux, 
&  telle  est  bien  agreable  ^laistresse  qui  est  insupportable 
pour  femme  ...  II  y  a  vne  grande  difference  de  I'Amour 
au  Mariage."  " 

In  Le  diable  a  I'enfer,  La  Fontaine  alludes  to  the  famous 
conception  of  the  Petrarchists  that  love  finds  its  v^'ay  to  the 
heart  through  the  eyes  (vv.  5-6)  : 

Une  vertu  sort  de  vous,  ne  sais  quelle, 

Qui  dans  les  coeurs  s'introduit  par  les  yeux. 

In  the  Astree,  the  beautiful  eyes  of  the  beloved  ones  are 
the  piece  de  resistance  of  Urfe's  poetical  invention.^ 

Even  for  the  ''  petite  dose  d'honnete  amour,"  *  La  Fon- 
taine had  not  necessarily  to  recur  to  the  Astree,  though 
here,  of  course,  we  think  at  once  of  the  far-famed  "  hon- 
neste  amitie  "  of  our  shepherds,  commended  on  the  very 
title-page  of  the  novel.     And  when  we  read: 

....  Pour  elle  sa  tendresse 
Devint  bonne  amitie 

or: 

Elle  fit  que  I'amour  devint  simple  amitie, 

^  Cf.  Gr.  £cr  ,  IV,  p.  358,  note  to  v.  4  of  A  femme  avare  galant  escroc. 
— Ars  amaudi,  I,  v.  351  ff. ;  II,  261  ff. ;  and  esp.,  II,  161-164. — Astr., 
IV,  4.  pp.  319  and  335- 

'  Cf.  Trogueurs,  v.  120;  also  £pitre  a  Mme.  de  Fontange,  v.  53,  and 
£f>ilhalame  pour  Mile,  de  Bourbon  et  le  Prince  de  Coiiti,  v.  32  tf.  Astr , 
III,  ID,  p.  973.  Later  on  this  conception  assumed  the  form  of  a  m3i:h 
in  ( ?)Bachaumont's  Divorce  de  I'Amour  et  de  I'Hymenee;  see  CEuzres 
de  Chapelle  et  de  Bachaumont,  Paris,  1854,  p.  268,  and  Gr.  £cr.,  VIII, 
p.  453. 

'  Cf.  above,  ch.  V,  p.  46,  n.  i,  and  Astr.,  II,  5,  pp.  336-338,  Dialogue 
sur  les  yeux  d'vn  pourtraict. 

*  Le  diable  de  Papefiguicre,  v.  4,  and  note. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  "CONTES"  6l 

the  verses  easily  suggest  the  example  of  Leonide,  "  qui  auoit 
resolu  de  changer  I'Amour  (:=  for  Celadon)  en  amitie," 
and  Celidee's  somewhat  platonising  definitions:  "Fay  ouy 
dire  qu'on  peut  aimer  en  deux  sortes :  I'vne  est  selon  la 
raison,  I'autre  selon  le  desir.  Celle  qui  a  pour  reigle  la 
raison,  on  me  I'a  nommee  amitie  honneste  &  vertueuse,  & 
celle  qui  se  laisse  emporter  a  ses  desirs,  Amour."  ^ 

III. 

But  if  there  are  no  definite  relations  between  the  Contes 
and  the  Astree  save  these  few  commonplaces  and  the  al- 
lusions mentioned  above,  we  find  one  conte  in  which  La 
Fontaine  travesties  the  entire  genre  of  pastoral  and  chival- 
rous romances  with  their  marvelous  adventures  and  their 
stereotyped  precieux  motives.  It  is  the  famous  Fiancee 
du  Roi  de  Garhe  {Contes  II,  14),  freely  imitated  from  the 
seventh  novel  of  the  second  day  of  Boccaccio's  Decameron. 

Many  years  ago,  this  novel  was  analyzed  in  an  interest- 
ing essay  by  fimile  Montegut."  After  a  splendid  charac- 
terization of  the  Italian  genius  in  general  and  of  Boccaccio's 

^  Cf.  Petit  chien,  vv.  516-517;  Filles  de  Minee,  v.  191  (also  Elegies, 
V,  V.  34  and  note,  and  II,  v.  68;  Psyche,  liv.  II,  Gr.  £cr.,  VIII,  p.  225). — 
Astr.,  I,  II,  p.  765,  and  Astr.,  II,  2,  p.  103. — There  is  a  curious  expres- 
sion in  the  Contes,  to  which  M.  Regnier  suggests  no  parallel :  four 
times  La  Fontaine  uses  the  adjective  "  defunt"  in  a  comic  sense,  as  the 
equivalent  of  "former":  "defunt  amant ",  "  defunte  Tinette"  and 
"defunt  marquis".  {Faucon,  v.  198,  and  Richard  Minutolo,  v.  95; 
Troqueurs.  v.  in;  Faucon.  v.  95.)  Similarly,  Hylas  repeatedly  ad- 
dresses Philis  as  "ma  feue' maistresse  ",  and  she  replies  to  "  mon  feu 
serviteur".     (Astr.,  Ill,  i,  p.  51  ff. ;  ib.,  II,  p.  1042.) 

2  See  Revue  des  deux  Mondes,  1868,  tome  45,  pp.  721-736;  the  article 
is  reprinted  in  £.  Montegut,  Poctes  et  artistes  d'ltalie,  Paris,  1881,  pp. 
21-51.  For  Montegut's  peculiar  personality  compare  L.  P.  Betz,  £. 
Montegut,  ein  frans.  Verniitt'er  der  Weltlitteratur,  in  his  Stud.  z. 
vergl.  Literaturgeschichte,  Frankfurt  a-AI.,   1908,  pp.   136-158. 


62  ^A  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTRRE" 

in  particular/  Montegut  applies  his  theories  to  the  novel  in 
question.  To  him,  it  represents  the  apogee  of  Boccaccio's 
art.  It  is  by  no  means  gay,  he  declares,  containing  as  it 
does,  one  of  the  greatest  tragic  conflicts  a  human  mind  ever 
conceived;  it  is  the  tragedy  of  beauty.  But  most  read- 
ers fail  to  appreciate  this  deep  tragedy;  for  many,  the 
heroine's  name  has  become  associated  with  all  sorts  of 
burlesque  and  tragicomical  adventures.  And  Montegut 
continues :  "  Notre  bon  La  Fontaine,  pour  comble  de  mal- 
heur,  a  pris  cette  histoire  dans  Boccaccio  et  en  a  fait  un  de 
ses  contes  lestes,  grivois,  qu'il  fait  si  bien,  en  sorte  que  la 
seule  Fiancee  du  roi  de  Garbe  que  Ton  connaisse  est  celle 
de  La  Fontaine,  et  non  celle  de  Boccaccio."  " 

M.  G.  Lafenestre,  in  his  monograph  on  La  Fontaine,  re- 
calls Montegut's  essay.  What  he  has  to  say  about  the  two 
versions,  is  not  very  flattering  to  our  fabulist :  "  On  salt  ce 
qui  reste  de  cette  conception  passionnee  de  la  Renaissance 
dans  le  recit  adouci  et  desseche  de  La  Fontaine:  une  suite 
d'episodes  egrillards  et  de  vulgaires  polissonneries.  C'est 
ainsi  que,  presque  toujours,  I'amour,  sensuel  ou  tendre,  la 
passion,  brutale  ou  raffinee.  qu'il  a  pu  rencontrer  chez  ses 
modeles,  se  denaturent,  pour  etre  acceptes  de  son  auditoire, 
en  galanteries  faciles,  et  que  la  peinture  des  moeurs,  des 
caracteres,  des  sentiments,  souvent  si  vive  dans  les  Novelle 
et  dans  les  Fabliaux,  s'efface  presque  completement  chez 
lui,  pour  ne  laisser  place  qu'a  une  action  rapide  et  finement 
dialoguee."  ^ 

'  According  to  him,  this  genius  consists  in  the  "  union  difficile,  pres- 
que contre  nature,  et  cependant  presque  toujours  heureuse,  de  ce  que 
I'antiquite  et  le  moyen  age  eurent  respectivement  de  plus  original  et 
de  plus  parliculierement  characteristique."  The  antique,  classic  ele- 
ment is  found  in  Boccaccio's  form,  which  emphasizes  the  essential, 
the  unchangeahle  elements  of  nature,  while  the  substance  of  his  novels 
is  a  romantic  picture  of  medieval  life  with  all  the  luxury  of  details 
(/.  c,  pp.  29-30). 

*  L.  c,  p.  42.  »  L.  c,  p.  138. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  "CONTES"  63 

This  criticism  is  certainly  just  for  a  good  many  of  the 
contes,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  it  also  holds  true  for  our 
particular  story.  Boccaccio's  novella  is  highly  pathetic — a 
little  gruesome  perhaps  in  parts  ;^  but  in  the  last  scene, 
where  the  heroine  and  the  faithful  Antigono  impose  so 
cleverly  upon  the  good  king,  the  classic  tragedy  of  fate  is 
relieved,  one  thinks,  by  a  good  comedy  of  situation.  It  is 
in  this  gay  ending  that  La  Fontaine's  justification  lies,  and 
in  which  he  found  inspiration  for  his  somewhat  radical 
changes. 

Let  us  not  be  mistaken  about  this  point.  La  Fontaine  had 
a  very  keen  critical  appreciation  of  the  works  of  other 
writers  as  well  as  of  his  own."  He  understood  Boccaccio 
perfectly,  and  in  this  special  case,  he  was  certainly  aware  of 
the  underlying  tragedy.  How  else  can  we  explain  the  in- 
troductory verses,  in  which  he  practically  excuses  himself 
for  the  free  treatment  of  his  source?^  The  comical  tone 
of  this  very  excuse  must  not  deceive  us.     La  Fontaine  felt 

*  See,  for  instance,  the  episode  of  the  duke  of  Athens  who  kills  the 
prince  of  Morea :  "  Per  che,  di  pid  caldo  desio  accesosi,  non  spaventato 
dal  ricente  peccato  da  lui  commesso,  con  le  mani  ancor  sanguinose, 
allato  se  corico.  .  .  .  (ed.  P.  Fanfani,  Florence,  1904,  Vol.  I,  p.  150). 

'  See,  for  instance,  the  comedy  Clymene,  in  which  he  characterizes 
so  well  the  style  of  Horace,  Marot,  Malherbe  and  Voiture. 

•II  n'est  rien  qu'on  ne  conte  en  diverses  faqons: 
On  abuse  du  vrai  comme  on  fait  de  la  feinte; 
Je  le  soufifre  aux  recits  qui  passent  pour  chansons; 
Chacun  y  met  du  sien  sans  scrupule  et  sans  crainte; 
Mais  aux  evenements  de  qui  la  verite 

Importe  a  la  posterite, 

Tels  abus  meritent  censure. 
Le  fait  d'Alaciel  est  d'une  autre  nature. 
Je  me  suis  ecarte  de  mon  original  : 
On  en  pourra  gloser ;  on  pourra  me  mecroire; 

Tout  cela  n'est  pas  un  grand  mal : 

Alaciel  et  sa  memoire 
Ne  sauraient  guere  perdre  a  tout  cc  changement. 


64  l-A  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTREE" 

that  he  had  changed  the  principal  character  of  his  model  in 
a  way  he  had  never  done  before.  He  reahzed  that  some 
explanation  was  needed,  and  naturally  he  framed  his  ex- 
cuse in  a  style  to  meet  the  case. 

But  in  what  does  this  radical  change  consist?  The  an- 
swer, it  seems  to  me.  is  this  :  La  Fontaine  turned  Boccaccio's 
"  histoire  tragique  "  with  its  gloomy  details  into  a  frank 
burlesque  of  countless  romances  of  adventure,  impartially 
parodying  both  chivalrous  and  pastoral  precieux  motives. 

La  Fontaine's  attitude  toward  preciosity  is  most  inter- 
esting. In  spite  of  the  fact  that,  primarily,  he  will  always 
remain  for  us  the  poet  of  the  Fables,  the  independent  ob- 
server of  nature,  he  did  not  escape  all  the  influences,  liter- 
ary and  other^vise,  around  him.  On  the  contrary,  like 
Moliere,  his  first  thought  is  to  please  the  public,^  and  if  the 
public  taste  is  inclined  toward  preciosity,  he  will  also  fol- 
low that  current.  Thus  he  delights  in  discreetly  adding 
precieux  touches  to  a  good  many  of  the  fables ; "  thus  he 
pays  a  lavish  tribute  to  preciosity  in  the  Songe  de  Vaux 
and  in  Les  amours  de  Psyche  et  de  Cupidon.  But  his  in- 
dividuality appears  even  when  hampered  by  conventions. 
His  ver\'  appas,  traits,  roses,  fleurs  and  lis  of  his  helles  and 
cruelles,  of  his  ohjets,  nymphes  and  bergeres  have  almost 
always  something  original ;  and  the  new  note  which  they 
contain  makes  us  forget  the  banality  of  these  well-worn 
ornaments.  To  a  certain  extent  this  is  also  true  of  the 
Contes.  La  Fontaine  brought  these  old  stories  "  up  to 
date."  as  it  were.  Even  in  those  in  which  he  professedly 
uses  "le  vieux  langage."  we  find,  every  now  and  then,  a  little 
precieux  touch  which  at  once  makes  them  appear  modem  to 
his   audience.     Through    the    difference   of    surroundings, 

'  Cf.  Preface  to  Psyche:  "  Mon  principal  but  est  de  plaire:  pour  en 
venir  la,  je  considere  le  goiJt  du  siecle." 
'  Cf.  above,  ch.  V,  pp.  39-42,  and  p.  46. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  "CONTES" 


65 


however,  these  same  precieux  expressions  assume  a  some- 
what different  shade  in  their  significance — they  become 
burlesque.^ 

M.  Lanson,  with  his  accustomed  soHdity  of  criticism,  has 
well  shown  the  real  nature  of  the  burlesque  genre."  He 
explains  how  the  precieux  and  the  burlesque  note  are  often 
to  be  found  in  one  and  the  same  author,  how  they  are  de- 
rived, ultimately,  from  the  same  sources :  "  Le  burlesque 
n'est  pas  un  genre  de  reaction  .  .  .  L'heroique,^  le  precieux, 
le  burlesque  sont  trois  etats  du  meme  gout,  trois  styles  du 
meme  art;  I'heroique  et  le  burlesque  sont  encore  du  precieux, 
et  .  .  .  le  burlesque  n'est  autre  chose  que  la  forme  plaisante 
du  precieux.  Si  le  burlesque  est  souvent  la  parodie  du  fin 
ou  du  grand,  cette  parodie  n'est  que  gaie  sans  malice,  et 
surtout  sans  intention  critique,  sans  opposition  rcelle  de 
goijt."  We  may  apply  this  word  for  word  to  the  case  of 
the  Fiancee  du  roi  de  Garbe :  La  Fontaine,  likewise,  had  no 
sarcastic,  no  satirical  intention,  though  he  himself  is  highly 
amused  by  the  comic  effect  he  produces. 

•  Cf.  Richard  Miniitolo  (Coiit.,  I,  2),  vv.  3,  7,  39-40,  102,  1^2-123;  also 
L'oraison  de  Saint  Julien  (Cont.,  II,  5),  vv.  270-274  and  Le  MagniUque 
(Cont.,  IV,  is),  vv.  109-114.  We  recall  here  the  famous  condemnation 
of  Malherbe's  precieux  followers  in  the  Epitre  a  Huet.,  vv.  54-56: 

.  .  .  Ses  {=  Malherbe's)  traits  ont  perdu  quiconque  I'a  suivi. 
Son  trop  d'esprit  s'epand  en  trop  de  belles  choses : 
Tous  meiaux  y  sont  or,  toutes  fleurs  y  sont  roses. 

In  this  connection  see  P.  Toldo,  La  Fontaine  et  Molicre  in  Rev.  d'Hist. 
Litt.  de  la  France  XVIII  (1911),  esp.  the  "digression",  p.  743  ff,  and 
his  article  Come  il  La  Fontaine  s'ispirasse  al  Boccaccio  (in  Studii 
dedicati  a  F.  Torraca,  Naples,  1912);  Cf.  also  F.  Brunetiere,  Etudes 
Critiques,  vol.  VII,  pp.  56-58. 

*  Cf.  £tudes  sur  les  rapports  de  la  litt.  franq.  et  de  la  litt.  esp.  an  I7e 
siccle  (1600-1660)  in  Rev.  d'Hist.  Litt.  de  la  France,  III  (1S96),  p. 
321  flf. 

3  This  concepiion  of  the  heroic,  a  poetical  genre  to  vi'hich  La  Fon- 
taine confessed  himself  several  times  (in  the  advertissements  to 
Adonis  and  the  Songe  de  Vaux),  is  equally  noteworthy. 


66  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

A  brief  outline  of  the  conte  will  illustrate  our  point  more 
clearly.  After  the  proem,  a  brief  summary  of  the  story/ 
we  are  formally  introduced  to  the  heroine  Alaciel.  La 
Fontaine,  as  he  often  does,  refers  to  the  shepherdess,  as  the 
best  personification  of  a  loving  female  creature  (v.  50)  : 

La  belle  aimait  deja;  mais  on  n'en  savait  rien : 
Filles  de  sang  royal  ne  se  declarent  gueres ; 
Tout  se  passe  en  leur  cosur :  cela  les  f  ache  bien, 
Car  elles  sont  de  chair  ainsi  que  les  bergeres. 

The  party  has  hardly  set  out  for  Garbe,  when  the  rom- 
ance of  adventure  begins."  The  ship  is  attacked  by  pirates, 
commanded  by  "  Grifonio,  le  gigantesque."  A  homeric 
battle  ensues — a  parody  on  the  usual  marvelous  achieve- 
ments of  the  knights.  Only  the  majestic  alexandrine  is 
able  to  describe  Hispal's  valor  worthily  (v.  75)  : 

*  In  Gr.  Ecr.,  IV,  p.  397,  n.  2,  we  find  a  note  to  the  effect  that  Boc- 
caccio, in  his  summary,  speaks  erroneously  of  the  "  mani  di  nove  huo- 
mini "  through  which  Alaciel  passed.  This  is  said  to  be  true  only  if 
we  count  the  fiance  as  the  ninth.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Boccaccio  re- 
lates nine  adventures;  the  future  husband  would  be  the  tenth  suitor. 
La  Fontaine  actually  omitted  one  adventure,— another  illustration  that 
the  "  longs  ouvrages "  really  "  font  peur "  to  our  poet.  Here  is  the 
list  of  the  adventures  in  both  versions:  La  Fontaine:  (i)  Hispal  (vv. 
54-319),  (2)  Le  chef  de  I'escorte  (320-357),  (3)  Le  corsaire,  lieuten- 
ant de  Grifonio  (358-401),  (4)  Le  seigneur  du  chateau  (402-503),  (5) 
L'ami  du  seigneur  (504-531),  (6)  Le  "  conteur  de  fleurettes "  (532- 
611),  (7)  Le  chevalier  errant  (612-710),  (8)  Son  neveu  (711-727). 
Boccaccio:  (i)  Pericone  di  Visalgo  (the  effect  of  wine;  see  La  Fon- 
taine, 4),  (2)  Marato,  fratello  di  Pericone,  (3)  I  due  giovani  padroni 
della  nave,  (4)  II  prenze  della  Morea,  (5)  II  duca  d'Atene,  (6)  Con- 
stantino, figliuolo  deir  imperatore  di  Constantinopoli,  (7)  Osbech,  re 
de'Turchi,  (8)  Antonio,  famigliare  d'Osbech,  (9)  II  mercante  cipriancv 
(8-9,  the  episode  so  highly  admired  by  Montegut,  suggested,  perhaps, 
to  La  Fontaine  his  7-8.). 

*  The  Notice  of  Gr.  tier,  suggests  many  parallel  stories,  to  which  one 
might  add  an  episode  in  Astrce,  TV,  11,  where  Ligdamon,  in  order  ta 
establish  his  identity,  flees  with  Amerine. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  "CONTES"  67 

Hispal  en  un  moment  se  vit  environne; 

Maint  corsaire  sentit  son  bras  determine : 

De  ses  yeux  il  sortait  des  eclairs  et  des  flammes.  .  . 

Comme  Grifonio  passait  d'un  bord  a  I'autre, 

Un  pied  sur  le  navire,  un  sur  celui  d'Hispal, 

Le  heros  d'un  revers  coupe  en  deux  I'anima! : 

Part  du  tronc  tombe  en  I'eau,  disant  sa  patenotre, 

En  reniant  Mahom,  Jupin  et  Tervagant, 

Avec  maint  autre  dieu  non  moins  extravagant, 

Part  demeure  sur  pied  en  la  meme  posture. 

On  aurait  ri  de  I'aventure, 
Si  la  belle  avec  lui  n'ciit  tombe  dedans  I'eau. 

But  Hispal  and  Alaciel  reach  the  shore  safely;  they  buy 
a  castle,  and  the  "  heures  du  berger  "  are  at  liberty  to  begin. 
No  chivalrous  or  pastoral  romance  ever  had  a  better  setting 
for  its  love  scenes  (v.  194)  : 

Ce  chateau,  dit  I'histoire.  avait  un  pare  fort  grand ; 
Ce  pare,  un  bois ;  ce  bois,  de  beaux  ombrages ; 
Sous  ces  ombrages  nos  amants 
Passaient  d'agreables  moments.  .  .  . 
Or  au  fond-de  ce  bois  un  certain  antre  etait 
Sourd  et  muet  et  d'amoureuse  affaire; 
Sombre  surtout :  la  nature  semblait 
L'avoir  mis  la  non  pour  autre  mystere. 

Hispal  declares  his  love  in  an  ardent  speech,  and  the  poet 
continues  (v.  225)  : 

Hispal  haranguait  de  fagon 
Qu'il  aurait  echaufife  les  marbres, 
Tandis  qu' Alaciel,  a  I'aide  d'un  poingon, 
Faisait  semblant  d'ecrire  sur  les  arbres. 
Mais  I'Amour  faisait  la  rever 
A  d'autre  chose  qu'a  graver 
Des  characteres  sur  I'ecorce. 

This  passage  is  particularly  noteworthy.  Here  we  have 
a  parody  on  two  motives  which  have  become  commonplaces 
in  lyric  poetry,  and  especially  in  all  pastoral  fiction,  from 


68  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

the  Greek  and  Roman  eclogues  to  the  Diana  and  the 
Astree.  One  of  them  is  the  device  of  animating  dead  ob- 
jects, stone,  rocks,  trees,  even  flames  and  daggers,  and  to 
contrast  their  hypothetical  pity  with  the  cruelty  of  the  be- 
loved one.^  The  other  motive  is  the  old  device  of  lovers, 
to  write  on  trees  and  to  carve  their  names  or  monograms, 
symbolically  interlaced,  upon  the  bark." 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  happiness  of  Hispal  and  Alaciel 
continues.  La  Fontaine  now  introduces  another  favorite 
motive  of  the  pastorals,  really  a  development  of  the  one 
first  mentioned:  the  surrounding  objects  become  the  silent 
but  faithful  witnesses  of  the  idyl.  The  inscriptions  on  the 
trees,  at  the  same  time,  have  considerably  increased  in 
number  (v.  268)  : 

L'antre  ne  les  vit  seul  de  ces  douceurs  jouir; 
Rien  ne  compte  a  1' amour  que  la  premiere  peine. 
Si  les  arbres  parlaient,  il  ferait  bel  ouir 
Ceux  de  ce  bois ;  car  la  foret  n'est  pleine 
Que  des  monuments  amoureux 
Qu'Hispal  nous  a  laisses,  glorieux  de  sa  proie. 

1  We  meet,  for  example,  in  the  Astree.  stereotyped  phrases  like : 
"  Celion  vesquit  de  cette  sorte  (=  separated  from  Belinde)  plusieurs 
iours ;  durant  lesquels  il  faisoit  pitie  mesme  aux  rochers "  {Astr.,  I, 
10.  P-  730).  In  Astr.,  V.  n,  p.  1324,  there  occurs  a  passage,  betraying, 
perhaps  Baro's  less  skilful  hand,  which  shows  to  what  abuses  these 
invocations  lead :  Astree  has  been  seized  by  Polemas'  brutal  soldiers ; 
Celadon  runs  after  the  abductors,  "  criant  ou  plustost  hurlant,  &  de- 
mandant secours  aux  Dieux,  aux  hommes,  aux  animaux,  a  la  riviere 
de  Lignon,  aux  arbres,  aux  rochers,  &  bref  a  toutes  les  choses  qu'il 
rencontroit  ou  qui  luy  venoient  en  la  pensee." — For  similar  exaggera- 
tions in  Montemayor's  Diana  and  especially  in  Sidney's  Arcadia  see 
H.  A.  Rennert,  The  Spanish  Pastoral  Romances,  Philadelphia,  1912, 
pp.  37-39- 

*  Of  this  feature,  again,  we  find  a  pretty  instance  in  the  Astree.  In 
the  Histoire  de  Chi'.deric,  de  Silviane  et  d'Andrimarte  {Astr.,  Ill,  12, 
pp.  1124-1125),  the  whole  process  is  minutely  described:  Silviane,  a 
young  girl,  has  flirted  for  some  time  \yith  young  Andrimarte;  while 
playing  together,  she  carves  her  name  on  the  bark  of  a  willow-tree, 
and  he  puts  Lbove  it:  "I'AYME". 


LA  FONTAINE'S  "  CONTES  "  6^ 

On  y  verrait  ecrit :  "  Ici  pama  de  joie 

Des  mortels  le  plus  heureux; 
La  mourut  un  amant  sur  le  sein  de  sa  dame; 
En  cet  endroit,  mille  baisers  de  flamme 
Furent  donnes  et  mille  autres  rendus. 
Le  pare  dirait  beaucoup ;  le  chateau  beaucoup  plus, 
Si  chateaux  avaient  une  langue.^ 

In  the  second  adventure  again,  the  parody  is  obvious. 
Hispal's  successor  is  a  fiery  youth  who  wants  to  take 
Alaciel's  heart  by  storm.  At  first  she  does  not  listen  to  his 
protestations  of  love  (v.  331)  : 

Temoigner  en  tel  cas  un  peu  de  dcsespoir 

Est  quelquefois  une  bonne  recette. 
C'est  ce  que  fait  notre  homme:  il  forme  le  dessin 
De  se  laisser  mourir  de  f  aim ; 
Car  de  poignarder,  la  chose  est  trop  tot  faite. 
On  n'a  pas  le  temps  d'en  venir 
Au  repentir. 

Everyone  knows  with  what  a  readiness  the  jilted  heroes 

^This  literary  convention  also  is  often  represented  in  the  Astree. 
Let  us  quote  but  one  instance  where  the  mannerism  is  apparent.  In 
the  above-mentioned  passage  {cf.  p.  €8,  n.  i;  Astr.,  IV,  11,  p.  1322)  we 
have  the  scene  in  which  Polemas'  soldiers  are  hidden  in  the  woods, 
awaiting  a  chance  to  seize  Astree  and  Celadon.  The  poet  pathetically 
exclaims :  "  O  que  si  ces  arbres  eussent  peu  se  plaindre,  qu'ils  eussent 
auec  beaucoup  de  raison  regrette  le  changement  qu'ils  voyaient,  car  eux 
qui  n'estoient  autrefois  que  de  douces  cachettes  de  quelques  honnestes 
larcins  d'Amour,  &  n'auoient  accoustume  que  d'ouyr  les  ardentes 
plaintes,  les  petites  quereles  &  agreables  paix  des  Amants,  ou  leur 
amoureuses  entreprises,  estoient  maintenant  vne  retraitte  de  \oleurs 
&  de  rauisseurs  inhumains."  Other  parallels  may  be  found  in  Lau- 
monier,  Ronsard,  pocte  lyrique,  Paris,  1909,  where  the  history  of  all 
these  poetic  conventions  is  recorded  (pp.  430-466).  See  also  E.  Roy, 
Les  premiers  cercles  frangais  an  17^  Steele:  Math.  Regnier  et  Giiido- 
baldo  della  Rovere,  in  Rev.  d'Hist.  Lift,  de  la  Fr.,  IV  (1897).  This 
article  is  interesting,  as  it  shows  that  even  a  poet  like  Regnier  did  not 
free  himself  of  precieux  conventions.  La  Fontaine  himself  used  these 
same  motives  several  times  without  any  burlesque  intention,  as  in 
Adonis,  v.  136  ff.,  and  Psyche,  book  II,  Gr.  £cr.,  VIII,  pp.  152-153.  and 
note  3.  To  the  parallel  passages  there  suggested  we  would  add  Cela- 
don's very  precieux  "  Ressouuenir,"  Astr.,  I,  12,  p.  861  ff. 


70 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E' 


of  pastoral  and  chivalrous  novels  fling  themselves  into  the 
arms  of  death — from  which  they  are,  however,  saved  with 
astonishing  regularity.^  It  is  needless  to  say  that  in  His- 
pal's  case  likewise  the  suicide  is  not  carried  out:  Alaciel 
yields  from  motives  of  pure  humanity. 

In  the  following  adventures,  the  parody  on  chivalrous 
or  pastoral  motives  is  abandoned.  Only  with  the  seventh 
lover,  a  knight  errant  of  the  weakest  sort,  the  take-off  be- 
comes again  evident  (v.  617)  : 

Un  jour,  entre  autres,  que  la  belle 

Dans  un  bois  dormait  a  I'ecart, 

II  s'y  rencontrait  par  hasard 
Un  chevalier  errant,  grand  chercheur  d'aventures, 
De  ces  sortes  de  gens  que  sur  des  palefrois 

Les  belles  suivaient  autrefois. 

Et  passaient  pour  chastes  et  pures. 
Celui-ci  qui  donnait  a  ses  desirs  essor, 
Comme  faisait  jadis  Rogel  ^  et  Galaor,^ 

N'eut  vu  la  princesse  endormie 
Que  de  prendre  un  baiser  il  forma  le  dessin : 
Tout  pret  a  faire  choix  de  la  bouche  ou  du  sein, 
II  etait  sur  le  point  d'en  passer  son  envie, 

Quand  tout  a  coup  il  se  souvint 

Des  lois  de  la  chevalerie. 

A  ce  penser  il  se  retint, 

Priant  toutefois  dans  son  ame 

Toutes  les  puissances  d'amour 

Qu'il  put  courir  en  ce  sejour 

Quelque  aventure  avec  la  dame. 

'  Celadon,  for  instance,  leaps  into  the  Lignon,  only  to  be  rescued,  a 
few  miles  below,  by  beautiful  nymphs  {Astr.,  I,  i)  ;  Sylvandre  is  just 
about  to  throw  himself  into  a  deep  abyss,  when  Celadon  proposes  to 
him  a  nobler  death,  namely,  to  allow  themselves  to  be  torn  to  pieces 
by  the  wild  animals  of  the  Fontaine  de  la  Verite  d'Amour — a  device 
which  ultimately  saves  them  again  {Astr.,  V,  7,  p.  574  fif.).  Compare 
also  Aininta,  act  V,  Elpino's  account  of  Aminta's  rescue. 

2  The  ed.  of  the  Gr.  flcr.  refers  here  to  Ruggiero  of  the  Orlando 
Furioso,  canto  Vil,  st.  28  fif. 

■''  Galaor  is  Amadis'  brother,  in  whom  many  see  the  prototype  of 
Urfes  Ilylas. 


LA  FONTAINE'S  "CONTES"  yi 

Alaciel  awakes,  and  "  en  deux  mots  "  the  stranger  zon- 
fesses  to  her  "  I'ardeur  qui  I'embrasait ".  She  tells  him 
her  sad  story,  not  mentioning,  of  course,  the  six  lovers. 
He  swears  to  bring  her  back  to  her  parents,  paying  her 
first  a  nice  precieux  compliment,^  and  ending  then  quite 
explicitly — the  burlesque  proceeding  by  contrast  (v.  663)  : 

Pourvu  qu' Amour  me  prete  vie, 
Vous  les  verrez,  dit-il.     C'est  seulement  a  vous 
D'apporter  remede  a  vos  coups, 
Et  consentir  que  mon  ardeur  s'appaise : 
Si  j'en  mourais   (a  vos  bontes  ne  plaise!) 
Vous  demeureriez  seul ;  et,  pour  vous  parler  franc, 
Je  tiens  ce  service  assez  grand 
Pour  me  flatter  d'une  esperance 
De  recompense. 

In  this  scene  all  the  incidents  are  narrated  in  a  burlesque 
manner.  The  lady  must  needs  be  asleep  in  the  woods,  when 
the  knight  errant  surprises  her.  His  valiant  profession, 
his  knightly  honor,  his  gallant  behavior  are  treated  with 
like  irony.  Especially  the  ardent  desire  to  kiss  the  sleep- 
ing beauty  is  a  stereotyped  feature.  La  Fontaine  uses  it 
with  much  grace  in  Psyche,  in  the  comedy  Clymene,  and 
especially  in  the  seventh  fragment  of  the  Songe  de  Vaux.^ 

Tired  by  his  unusually  long  efforts.  La  Fontaine  hurries 
to  a  rapid  denouement.  After  the  eighth  adventure,  the 
princess  is  happily  restored  to  her  father.  Before  closing, 
the  poet  does  not  omit,  however,  an  occasion  to  pay  a  final 
compliment  to  his  mondaine  public,  representing  the  ele- 

IV.  639: 

Je  ne  suis  geant  ni  sauvage 
Mais  chevalier  errant,  qui  rend  graces  aux  Dieux 

D' avoir  trouve  dans  ce  bocage 
Ce  qu'a  peine  on  pourrait  rencontrer  dans  les  Cieux. 
*  For  the  relation   of  these  passages  to  the  Astree,  see  below,  ch. 
VII,  p.  84  ff. 


72 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 


gant  salons  of  fine  society  as  the  mysterious  temples,  where- 
in the  God  Cupid  is  eagerly  worshipped;  there  it  was,  ac- 
cording to  the  statement  of  the  inventive  "  gouvemeur," 
that  Alaciel  took  refuge  in  a  convent/ 

'V.  751: 

Hispal  etant  parti,  Madame  incontinent 

Pour  fuir  I'oisivete,  principe  de  tout  vice, 

iResolut  de  vaquer  nuit  et  jour  au  service 

D'un  dieu  qui  chez  ces  gens' a  beaucoup  de  credit. 

Je  ne  vous  aurais  jamais  dit 

Tous  ses  temples  et  ses  chapelles, 
Nommes  pour  la  plupart  alcoves  et  ruelles. 
La  les  gens  pour  idole  ont  un  certain  oiseau 

Qui  dans  ses  portraits  est  fort  beau, 

Quoiqu'il  n'ait  des  plumes  qu'aux  ailes. 

Au  contraire  des  autres  dieux, 

Qu'on  ne  sert  que  quand  on  est  vieux. 

La  jeunesse  lui  sacrifie. 

The  idea  was  probably  suggested  to  La  Fontaine  by  Boccaccio,  who 
makes  Alaciel  also  talk  of  a  "  monastero  di  donne  secondo  la  lor 
legge  religiosa",  to  which  she  was  led  by  her  protectors. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
"  Les  Amours  De  Psyche  Et  De  Cupidon." 

Significance  of  the  Cupid  and  Psyche  Myth — La  Fontaine's  Attitude 
toward  the  Myth :  the  "  Style  galant " — Descriptions  of  Art  in 
Psyche  and  in  the  Astree:  Architecture  and  Painting;  Urfe  as  an 
Art  Critic  and  Observer  of  Nature;  the  Notion  of  Color  in  La  Fon- 
taine and  Urfe — The  Description  of  Physical  Beauty;  Passages  of 
Psyche,  Le  Songe  de  Vaux,  and  Clymene  Compared  with  Parallel 
Scenes  of  the  Astree — The  Episode  of  the  Fisherman  {Psyche, 
Book  II)  a  Reminiscence  of  the  Astree.  or  an  Echo  of  Ariosto  and 
Tasso? — Minor  similarities. 


The  novel  Les  Amours  de  Psyche  et  de  Cupidon  (1669) 
is  generally  considered  as  a  work  in  which  La  Fontaine 
was  not  very  happily  inspired,  in  spite  of  certain  beauties 
of  detail.  M.  Hemon  even  thinks  that  our  fabulist  "  only 
half  understood  this  graceful  and  profound  myth  of  Cupid 
and  Psyche,"  ^  which,  strangely  enough,  has  been  handed 
down  to  us  only  as  an  episode  in  Apuleius'  Metamorphoses.' 

Even  nowadays  scholars  by  no  means  agree  as  to  the 
interpretation  of  the  Cupid  and  Psyche  legend.  While  it 
was  believed  for  a  long  time  that  the  nucleus  of  the  myth 
is  an  Indo-European  popular  tale  which  later  on  was 
merged,  perhaps  by  Apuleius  himself,  into  an  allegory  re- 

'  F.  Hemon,  Cours  de  Littcrature.  IV;  La  Fontaine,  Paris,  1890,  p.  17. 

^  Metamorphoseon,  lib.  IV,  cap.  28,  lib.  VI,  cap.  24.  The  references 
in  the  following  are  to  the  edition  of  O.  Jahn,  Apulei  Psyche  et  Ciipido, 
Leipsic,  1905,  5th  ed. 

73 


74 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR6E" 


lating  to  the  soul/  the  most  recent  hypothesis  considers 
Cupid  and  Psyche  as  the  primitive  characters  of  a  myth  cen- 
tering in  Boeotian  Demeter  mysteries,  to  which  certain 
folklore  motives  were  added.' 

La  Fontaine  was  probably  but  little  concerned  about  the 
ultimate  origin  or  significance  of  the  myth,  and  we  should 
not  blame  him  for  ignoring  a  problem  which  perhaps  never 
will  be  definitely  settled.  He  only  considered  his  immediate 
model,  and  this  model,  we  feel  sure,  he  did  not  "  only  half- 
understand,"  but  he  was  guided  in  his  appreciation  by  that 
fine  taste  for  classic  beauty  which  Pintrel  and  Maucroix 
had  developed  in  him.^  In  the  noteworthy  preface  to  the 
novel,  which,  after  the  Epitre  a  Huet  reveals  him  best  as  a 
consciously  creating  artist,  he  clearly  explains  his  attitude 
toward  Apuleius  and  the  reasons  which  induced  him  to 
deviate  in  certain  respects  from  his  model.  He  calls  Apu- 
leius' story  "  un  conte  qui  est  plein  de  merveilleux  a  la 
verite,  mais  d'un  merveilleux  accompagne  de  badineries  et 
propre  a  amuser  des  enfants  " — no  inadequate  definition 
of  Apuleius'  manner,  in  which  indeed  the  supernatural  sub- 
ject matter, — the  fairy-tale  motives, — are  treated  with  all 
the  niaiserie  and  juggling  of  words  of  a  decadent  period. 

'  Cf.  Friedlaender,  Sittengeschichte  Roms,  Vol.  II,  Leipsic,  1905,  5th 
ed.,  p.  439;  Teuffel,  Hist,  of  Roman  Literature.  Transl.  by  G.  Warr, 
London,  1892,  Vol.  II,  p.  241.  Also  Regnier's  Notice  (Gr.  £cr.,  Vol. 
VIII,  p.  3  ff.)  relegates  the  myth  to  the  "  fables  milesiennes  ",  and  so 
does  Sainte-Beuve,  Nouv.  Lundis,  II,  436.  See  also  Menghini's  mas- 
terly introduction  to  Francesco  Bracciolini's  Psiche  (Scelta  di  ciirio- 
sita  lett.,  Bologna,  1889),  in  which  the  entire  "cycle"  is  examined. 

*  Cf.  Handbuch  d.  klass.  Altertumswissenschaften,  O.  Gruppe,  Griech. 
Mythol.  und  Religionsgeschichte,  Vol.  II,  p.  870  ff.,  Munich,  1906. 

•''  Besides  well-known  examples  like  Philemon  et  Baucis,  we  recall  the 
fragment  of  the  tragedy  Achille,  which  contains  several  powerful 
scenes  (act  I,  sc.  5;  act  II,  sc.  3,  beginning),  and  an  interesting  passage 
on  the  beauties  of  Livy,  in  his  letter  to  Maucroix  of  Oc  ober  26,  1693, 
recently  i)ublished  in  Rev.  d'Hist.  Litt.  de  la  France,  XVIII,  pp.  443- 
445. 


"LES  AMOURS  DE  PSYCHE  ET  DE  CUPIDON"  75 

11. 

In  modernising  a  myth,  transmitted  in  such  a  peculiar 
form,  La  Fontaine  must  have  been  somewhat  perplexed  as 
to  the  style  which  he  was  to  adopt.  The  ordinary  fairy- 
tale appeared  too  simple ;  the  novel  was  not  ornate  enough, 
and  the  epic  poem  too  much  so.^  He  was  therefore  obliged 
to  seek  a  new  form,  which,  to  a  certain  extent,  should 
combine  harmoniously  all  the  different  elements  suggested 
by  the  model,  and  which,  at  the  same  time,  should  find 
favor  with  the  public,  and  more  especially  with  the  salon 
of  the  duchess  of  Bouillon,  to  whom  the  work  is  dedi- 
cated. After  some  hesitation,  he  arrives  at  the  conclusion 
that  "  dans  un  conte  comme  celui-ci,  .  .  .  il  a  fallu  chercher 
du  galant  et  de  la  plaisanterie."  And  he  adds:  "  Ouand 
il  ne  I'aurait  pas  fallu,  mon  inclination  m'y  portait,  et  peut- 
etre  y  suis-je  tombe  en  beaucoup  d'endroits  contre  la  raison 
et  la  bienseance."  ^ 

This  confession  is  important  from  our  point  of  view. 
Gallantry,  in  its  literary  expression,  is  closely  related  to 
preciosity;  in  fact,  it  may  be  considered  as  the  natural  de- 
velopment of  preciosity  in  the  fashionable  circles  of  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.^     La  Fontaine  him- 

1  Cf.  Preface,  Gr.  £rr.,  VIII,  p.  19.  The  latter  point  is  important 
as  it  implies  a  criticism  of  Marini  who  embodied  the  myth  in  the 
fourth  canto  of  his  pompous  Adone.  H.  Erdmann  (Molicre's  Psyche 
im  Vergleich  zu  den  ihr  vorangehenden  Bearheitungen  der  Psyche- 
Sage,  Diss.  Koenigsberg,  1892,  p.  31)  states  that  certain  traits  of  La 
Fontaine's  novel  hark  back  to  the  Italian  epic;  but  nothing  justifies 
this  assertion,  the  more  so  as  Marini  keeps  very  closely  to  the  Latin 
text,  which  he  sometimes  renders  literally.  Also  the  allegoria  by 
Lorenzo  Scoto,  which  precedes  the  canto,  is  practically  a  literal  trans- 
lation of  Fulgentius'  allegoric  interpretation.  Compare  the  text  of 
Fulgentius  as  given  by  Jahn,  /.  c,  pp.  75-76. 

'  L.  c,  p.  20. 

3  For  an  interesting  definition  of  gallantry  as  opposed  to  sentimen- 
tality, see  K.  Vossler's  review  of  G.  Reynier's  Le  roman  sentimental 


^6  LA  FOXTAIXE  AXD  THE  "ASTR£E" 

self  had  already  given  two  typical  examples  of  that  light, 
dallying  galant  st}de  in  the  third  and  fourth  fragment  of  the 
Songe  de  J^aux,  namely  in  the  Aventiire  d'un  saiimon  et 
d'un  esturgeon  and  in  the  stor}-  of  the  dying  swan.  To  the 
modern  reader  even  these  short  fragments  may  appear  some- 
what artificial ;  in  a  long  novel,  like  Psyche,  the  peculiar 
mannerism  inherent  to  the  genre  cannot  fail  to  strike  him, 
in  parts  at  least,  unfavorably.  If  Psyche,  therefore,  hardly 
seems  a  success  in  the  eyes  of  the  modern  critics,  the  rea- 
son is  not  La  Fontaine's  misunderstanding  of  the  subject 
matter,  but  the  exaggeration  of  the  method  employed. 
It  is  the  failure  of  a  carefully  planned  experiment.  The 
contemporaries,  however,  were  pleased :  the  novel  had  two 
editions  in  one  year,  and  Moliere,  together  with  Corneille, 
brought  it  on  the  stage  in  the  following  year  (1670),  as 
the  "  comedie-ballet  "  Psyche.' 

Thus  La  Fontaine's  novel  bears — a  priori — a  certain  re- 
semblance to  the  Astree,  the  style  of  which,  in  many  re- 
spects, may  also  be  called  gaJant.  and  it  is  quite  natural  that 
we  should  find  especially  frequent  points  of  contact  be- 
tween La  Fontaine  and  Urfe."  both  as  to  the  inspiration  in 
general  and  to  definite  reminiscences.^ 

avant  I'Astree.  Paris,  1908,  in  Litbl.  fuer  germ.  u.  roman.  Philol..  1910. 
No.  12.  Cf.  also  La  Fontaine's  preface  to  the  second  collection  of  the 
Contes  (1665).  where  rondeaux,  metamorphoses,  and  bouts-rimes  ar-e 
called  "  galanteries  qui  sont  hors  de  mode."  Gr.  £cr.,  IV.  p.  9  and 
note. 

1  Gabriel  Gueret  asserts  in  his  Promenade  de  Saint-Cloud  (Paris, 
1721,  quoted  by  Walckenaer,  Vol.  I,  p.  221):  "La  Psyche  n'a  pas  eu 
tout  le  succes  qu'il  (=  La  Fontaine)  s'en  promettait,  et  Barbin  (=the 
editor)  commence  a  regretter  les  cinq  cents  ecus  qu'il  en  a  donnes." 
This  testimony  is  refuted  by  M.  Mesnard  in  Gr.  £cr.,  I,  p.  xcvii. 

*  Taine,  who  does  not  like  Psyche,  describes  it  as  '"  une  pastorale  de 
courtisans  modernes.  habilles  a  la  grecque."    Cf.  1.  c,  p.  40. 

*  In  order  to  put  the  comparison  on  a  broader  basis,  some  account 
will  be  taken  of  La  Fontaine's  minor  works,  as  far  as  they  furnish 
similar  material,  especially  of  the  Songe  de  Vaux. 


"LES  AMOURS  DE  PSYCHS:  ET  DE  CUPIDON"  y^ 

III. 

Among  these  resemblances,  attention  may  be  called  to 
a  point  of  technique,  which  Psyche  shares,  not  with  the 
Astree  in  particular,  but  with  all  the  novels  of  the  same 
style,  namely  the  introduction  of  episodes  which  have  no 
immediate  connection  with  the  main  action.  La  Fontaine 
indulges  in  this  device  when,  in  the  second  book,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  temple  of  Venus,  he  relates  the  story  of  Myrtis 
and  Megano.  This  story  is  of  La  Fontaine's  own  inven- 
tion,— at  least  so  he  himself  declares  in  the  preface.  It 
illustrates  the  thought,  so  dear  to  La  Fontaine,  of  "la  grace, 
plus  belle  encore  que  la  beaute." 

If  we  turn  to  the  passages  in  which  La  Fontaine  en- 
larged considerably  upon  his  model,  w^e  are  attracted,  first 
of  all,  by  the  description  of  Cupid's  palace  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  first  book.  This  passage  gives  us  an  opportun- 
ity to  discuss  the  respective  relation  of  our  two  authors  to 
the  fine  arts. 

What  Apuleius  describes,  with  profusion  of  gold,  ivory 
and  precious  stones,  in  a  short  chapter  (V,  i),  is  de- 
veloped by  La  Fontaine  into  a  regular  episode,  embellished 
by  several  passages  in  verse.  He  conjures  up  before  us  a 
magnificent  fairy  palace  in  the  style  of  Louis  XIV,  with 
Doric,  Ionic,  Corinthian  and  even  composite  columns,  a 
princely  residence  of  porphyry  and  marble,  containing  all 
the  riches  which  the  plastic  or  graphic  arts  ever  produced. 
The  adjoining  gardens  are  also  laid  out  in  the  style  of 
Louis  XIV.  and  are  described  in  a  long  poetic  passage  in 
which  naiads,  satyrs,  nymphs  and  zephirs  play  a  prominent 
part. 

In  the  framework  of  Psyche,  La  Fontaine  had  already  de- 
scribed, more  or  less  ex  officio,  the  marvels  of  Versailles  and 
the  grotto  of  Thetys,  and  a  few  years  before,  in  the  Songe 
de   Vaiix,  he  had   depicted  Fouquet's   splendid  residence. 


78  J^A  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTREE" 

That  he  could  introduce  into  our  episode  another  descrip- 
tion of  art,  though  of  a  more  fantastic  kind,  reveals  once 
more  that  very  pronounced  taste  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury for  pompous  display  of  the  fine  arts.  But  La  Fon- 
taine's fairy  palace  has  still  another  significance :  in  seven- 
teenth-century style,  it  represents  the  old  convention  of  art 
descriptions  which  w^e  find  so  frequently  in  epics  and  novels 
of  all  times. 

In  the  Astree  this  trait  is  often  represented.  In  the 
very  beginning  we  have  the  description  of  the  palace  of 
Isoure  and  its  treasures.  Among  other  "  peintures  escla- 
tantes  .  .  .  Ton  voyoit  le  petit  Cupidon  qui  caressoit  Venus, 
auec  la  blessure,  sur  I'espaule,  de  la  lampe  de  la  curieuse 
Psiche."  ^  Sometimes  Urfe  gives  more  than  descriptions 
in  general  terms.  He  is  a  real  connoisseur  in  the  art  of 
painting,  a  critic  whose  judgment  has  been  formed  by 
the  best  specimens  of  Italian  art.  And  he  displays  that 
knowledge  with  a  certain  complaisance,  especially  in  the 
description  of  the  six  pictures  which  represent  the  tragic 
story  of  Damon  and  Fortune  in  the  grotto  which  bears 
their  names. ^ 

We  have  had  occasion  to  remark  that  the  pastoral  milieu 
in  the  Astree  is  sometimes  a  little  artificial.  Not  so  in  these 
pictures.  Here  we  find  a  keen  observation  of  animal  life, 
worthy  of  the  animal  painters  of  the  early  Renaissance,  of 
a  Pisanello  or  a  Paolo  Uccello.     To  give  but  one  example: 

Regardez  a  main  gauche  comme  ces  brebis  paissent,  voyez 
les  vnes  couchees  a  rombre,  les  autres  qui  se  leschent  la  iambe, 
les  autres  comme  estonnees  qui  regardent  ces  deux  Beliers  qui 

'  Astr.,  I,  2,  p.  60.  Cf.  also  the  house  of  Adamas  with  its  splendid 
gallery,  Astr.,  Ill,  3,  p.  125  ff.  For  longer  quotations  see  H.  Koerting, 
Gesclnchte  d.  frz.  Romans  im  17.  Jhdt.,  Oppeln  und  Leipzig,  1891,  2d. 
ed.,  t.  I,  p.   107. 

*  Astr.,  I,  II,  p.  798,  Histoire  de  Damon  et  de  Fortune. 


"  LES  AMOURS  DE  PSYCHE  ET  DE  CUPIDON" 


79 


se  viennent  heurter  de  toute  leur  force.  Prenez  garde  au 
tour  que  cestuy-ci  fait  du  col :  car  il  baisse  la  teste,  en  sorte 
que  I'autre  I'attaquant,  rencontre  seulement  ses  cornes:  mais 
le  raccourcissement  du  dos  de  I'autre  est  bien  aussi  artificiel: 
car  la  nature  qui  luy  apprend  que  la  vertu  vnie  a  plus  de  force, 
le  fait  tellement  resserrer  en  vn  monceau,  qu'il  semble  presque 
rond.  Le  deuoir  mesme  des  chiens  n'y  est  pas  oublie,  qui  pour 
s'opposer  aux  courses  des  loups,  se  tiennent  sur  les  aisles  du 
coste  du  bois.  Et  semble  qu'ils  se  soient  mis  comme  trois 
sentinelles,  sur  des  lieux  relevez,  afin  de  voir  plus  loing,  ou, 
comme  ie  pense,  afin  de  se  voir  I'vn  I'autre,  &  se  secourir  en 
la  necessite.  Mais  considerez  la  soigneuse  industrie  du 
peintre:  Au  lieu  que  les  chiens  qui  dorment  sans  soucy,  ont 
accoustume  de  se  mettre  en  rond,  &  bien  souuent  se  cachent 
la  teste  sous  les  pattes,  presque  pour  se  derober  la  clarte,  ceux 
qui  sont  peints  ici  sont  couchez  d'vne  autre  sorte,  pour 
montrer  qu'ils  ne  dorment  pas,  mais  reposent  seulement,  car 
ils  sont  couchez  sur  les  quatre  pieds,  &  ont  le  nez  tout  le  long 
des  iambes  de  deuant,  tenans  tousiours  les  yeux  ouuerts  aussi 
curieusement  qu'vn  homme  sqauroit  faire.^ 

This  is  even  more  than  a  technical  description.  The 
speaker  is  interested  in  the  scenes  themselves;  he  enjoys 
the  combat  between  the  two  rams  and  is  delighted  with  the 
intelligence  displayed  by  the  dogs.  And  thus,  once  more, 
we  have  an  illustration  of  the  attitude  of  the  early  seven- 
teenth century  toward  nature.  Urfe's  contemporaries  cer- 
tainly observed  and  enjoyed  its  charms  as  much  as  the 
modern  individual,  only  they  did  not  describe  them  in 
such  detail.  But  in  a  picture,  nature  becomes  art,  and  it 
is  the  critic's  place  to  observe  whether  the  artist  has  well 
rendered  nature. 

While  Urfe  thus  revels  in  detailed  descriptions  of  art, 
and  parades  his  technical  knowledge,  La  Fontaine  wrote  the 

1  L.  c.,  pp.  800-801,  Tableau  premier. 


8o  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

episode  in  Psyche  probably  mainly  as  a  concession  to  the 
public  taste.  To  be  sure,  he  is  also  attracted  toward  fine 
art  by  his  own  temperament.  In  his  letters  to  his  wife. 
which  were  written  largely  for  the  amusement  of  Mile,  de 
La  Fontaine's  Academic^  he  describes  palaces  and  pictures 
with  real  taste.  But  at  the  same  time  we  hear  interesting 
confessions.  The  pompous  profuseness  of  ornamentation, 
which  he  seems  to  admire  in  Psyche,  is  in  fact  loathsome 
to  him.  In  one  of  these  letters  w^e  read  concerning  the 
chateau  of  Richelieu:  "II  y  a  tant  d'or  qu'a  la  fin  je 
m'en  ennuyai.  Jugez  ce  que  peuvent  faire  les  grands 
seigneurs,  et  quelle  misere  c'est  d'etre  riche :  il  a  f allu  qu'on 
ait  invente  les  chambres  de  stuc  ou  la  magnificence  se  cache 
sous  une  apparence  de  simplicite."  ^  In  the  same  letter  he 
confesses  his  ignorance  in  technical  matters  of  architec- 
ture:^ he  himself  never  gives  details  concerning  the 
technique,  and  frequently  refers  to  a  book  where  such  com- 
ment may  be  found.  But  he  wittily  glosses  upon  the  sub- 
jects of  several  pictures,  and  it  is  easy  to  recognize  the 
future  La  Fontaine  of  the  Fables  in  remarks  like  the  fol- 
lowing: "  Panni  les  autres  statues  qui  ont  la  leur  apparte- 
ment  et  leurs  niches,  I'Apollon  et  le  Bacchus  apportent 
le  prix  au  gout  des  savants ;  ce  fut  toutefois  Mercure  que 
je  considerais  davantage  a  cause  de  ces  hirondelles  qui  sont 
si  simples  que  de  lui  confier  leurs  petits,  tout  larron  qu'il 
est."  " 

1  For  an  excellent  interpretation  of  La  Fontaine's  letters  to  his  wife, 
see  G.  Michaut,  La  Fontaine,  vol.  I,  Paris,  1913.  p.  161  ff. 

»  The  fifth  letter  to  his  wife,  of  September  12th,  1663;  Gr.  £cr.,  IX, 
p.  269.  He  also  hates  too  much  regularity;  concerning  the  chateau  of 
Blois  he  writes :  "  II  a  ete  bati  a  plusieurs  reprises  .  .  .  toutes  ces  trois 
pieces  ne  font,  Dieu  merci,  nulle  symmetrie."  (3d  letter  to  his  wife.) 
Cf.  also  Lafenestre,  p.  61. 

'  "  Vous  savez  mon  ignorance  en  matiere  d'architecture.  et  que  je 
n'ai  rien  dit  sur  Vaux  que  sur  des  memoires."     (lb.,  p.  259.) 

*  lb.,  p.  263. 


"LES  AMOURS  DE  PSYCHE  ET  DE  CUPIDON"  8l 

If  we  take  into  account  this  commendable  aversion  to 
pompons  display,  we  understand  why  the  one  hundred  and 
thirty-two  alexandrines  which  the  author  of  Psyche  de- 
votes to  the  detailed  description  of  the  grotto  of  Thetys  are 
sometimes  so  bare  of  poetic  enthusiasm,  and  why  both  the 
splendor  of  the  fairy  palace  and,  later  on,  the  magnificence 
of  the  temple  of  Venus  ^  leave  the  reader  rather  cold. 

Finally,  in  this  discussion  of  art,  a  last  point  should  be 
noted,  which  bears  on  the  notion  of  color  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  While  in  the  passage  quoted  from  Urfe  we  had 
occasion  to  admire  his  keen  observation  of  animal  life  and 
his  knowledge  of  technique  in  general,  it  is  a  curious  fact 
that  he  leaves  the  coloring  of  the  pictures  almost  out  of 
consideration.  He  speaks  only  of  chiaroscuro  {Tab.  IV), 
and,  in  a  few  instances  {Tab.  Ill  and  IV),  mentions  sun- 
light effects,  or  depicts  a  night  scene  {Tab.  IV).  But  he 
always  uses  general  and  vague  expressions,  and  never  gives 
any  characteristic  color." 

La  Fontaine  also,  when  dealing  with  the  art  of  painting, 
has  but  little  to  say  about  coloring.  In  fact,  the  whole 
passage  in  the  Songe  de  Vaiix  in  which  the  Muse  Appel- 
lanire  praises  her  art,  is  rather  conventional.  All  we  hear 
concerning  color  are  these  lines : 

A  de  simples  couleurs,  mon  art  plein  de  magie 

Sait  donner  du  relief,  de  I'ame,  de  la  vie : 

Ce  n'est  rien  qu'une  toile  et  Ton  croit  voir  des  corps. 

1  Psyche,  book  II.  pp.  187-188. 

2  While  we  admire  the  "  dessin  "  of  these  paintings  with  M.  Germa, 
who  devotes  a  whole  chapter  to  Urfe's  Digressions  sur  I'Art  (/.  c,  p. 
179  flf.),  we  must  be  less  enthusiastic  about  the  "coloris".  Also  what 
Germa  says  concerning  the  influence  of  the  Astree  on  Poussin  and 
Claude  Lorrain.  who  passed  nearly  their  whole  lives  under  Italian 
skies,  and  on  Watteau,  Boucher  and  Fragonard,  who  found  their  in- 
spiration in  their  own  milieu,  is  hardly  based  upon  actual  facts. 


82  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

Pompous  mythological  scenes  seem  to  be  the  main  subject 
of  painting;  landscape  is  hardly  hinted  at: 

Que  la  porte  du  Ciel  se  ferme  ou  qu'elle  s'ouvre, 

Que  le  soleil  nous  quitte  ou  qu'il  vienne  nous  voir, 

Qu'il  forme  un  beau  matin,  qu'il  nous  montre  un  beau  soir, 

J'en  sais  representer  les  images  brillantesi  I)  ^ 

La  Fontaine  is  here  altogether  the  child  of  his  time.  In 
]Moliere's  famous  epistle  to  Mignard,  the  painter  of  the 
frescos  in  the  cupola  of  the  Val-de-Grace  chapel,  we  find 
a  very  similar  formula  in  regard  to  color : 

Et  quel  est  ce  pouvoir  qu'au  bout  du  doigt  tu  portes, 
Qui  sait  faire  a  nos  yeux  vivre  les  choses  mortes, 
Et  d'un  peu  de  melange  et  de  bruns  et  de  clairs 
Rendre  esprit  la  couleur,  et  les  pierres  des  chairs  P^ 

This  again  is  nothing  but  chiaroscuro. 

1  Songe  de  Vaux,  fragm.  II,  Gr.  Ecr.,  VIII,  pp.  254-255.  Without 
reference  to  the  art  of  painting,  La  Fontaine  often  reveals  his  sus- 
ceptibility to  the  beauty  of  color.  So  in  a  letter  to  the  Duchess  of 
Bouillon  {Gr.  £cr.,  IX,  p.  387),  where  he  decries  Descartes'  theory 
■'  qu'il  n'3'  a  point  de  couleurs  au  monde  ".  See  also  the  introductory 
verses  to  Adonis,  and  the  beautiful  description  of  a  sunset  at  the  con- 
clusion of  Psyche. 

'  On  this  epistle  see  Reinach,  The  Story  of  Art  throughout  the  Ages, 
Transl.  by  F.  SimmoJids,  New  York,  1904,  p.  250,  and  the  commentary 
by  the  painter  Guerin  in  Augier's  ed.  of  Moliere,  Paris,  1825,  Vol.  IX. 
Until  the  middle  of  the  i8th  century,  the  question  of  coloring  seems 
to  have  been  treated  in  literature  as  a  matter  of  secondary  importance. 
Diderot,  in  his  Salons,  though  generally  more  concerned  about  the  sub- 
ject represented  than  about  the  technique,  already  begins  to  consider 
color  with  some  care,  as  may  be  seen  from  his  criticisms  of  Vanloo's 
Graces  and  Chaste  Susanne,  and  Fragonard's  Absence  des  peres  et 
meres  niise  en  profit  and  Groupe  d'Enfants  dans  le  Ciel.  It  is  the 
merit  of  the  romanticists  and  their  forerunners  to  have  introduced  the 
element  of  color  more  abundantly,  until  in  our  days  color  was  re- 
placed, in  its  turn,  by  the  "nuance"'.  There  are.  of  course,  individual 
exceptions.  Ronsard,  for  instance,  so  modern  in  many  respects,  pos- 
sesses a  vivid  feeling  for  beauty  of  color;  see  his  24th  elegy  to  Genevre 
and  the  curious  poem  Les  peintures  d'un  paysage ;  ed.  P.  Blanchemain, 
tome  IV,  pp.  313  and  410. 


"LES  AMOURS  DE  PSYCHE  ET  DE  CUPIDON"  83 

IV. 

But — retoiirnons  a  Psyche!  Besides  these  digressions 
on  art,  there  is  a  second  motive  by  which  the  reader  of  La 
Fontaine's  fairy-tale  is  reminded  of  older  novels  in  the  style 
of  the  Astree;  it  is  the  conventional  description  of  physical 
beauty. 

This  old  tradition,  which  we  find  in  x\puleius  in  a  late 
classic  form,  had  been  used  very  discreetly  by  the  early 
Italian  poets,  and  especially  by  Petrarch.^  At  the  same 
time  the  more  sensuous  conception  of  the  Renaissance  was 
foreshadowed  by  Boccaccio,"  until  Ariosto,  with  his  vivid 
portraits  of  Alcina,  Angelica  and  Olympia,^  finally  became 
the  acknowledged  model  of  the  later  French  schools,  in 
particular  that  of  Ronsard.*  Upon  this  long  tradition  Urfe's 
numerous  descriptions  of   feminine  beauty  are  founded,^ 

*  Compare  the  canzoni  "  Si  c  dehile  .  .  ."  and  "  Nel  dolce  tempo.  .  ." 

*  See,  e.  g.,  Decani.,  V,  i ;  Description  of  Efigenia. 
»  Orl.  Fur.,  VII,  st.  10-16;  XI,  st.  65-71. 

*  Cf.  Laumonier,  Ronsard,  pocte  lyrique,  Paris,  1909,  p.  501  ff.  He 
refers  to  numerous  other  parallel  passages.  See  also  J.  Vianey,  L'Arl- 
oste  et  la  Plciade,  in  Bullet.  Ital.,  Oct.,  1901,  and  Le  Pctrarchisme  en 
France  au  17 e  S.,  Montpellier,  1909,  p.  137  ff. 

*  The  passages  in  question  are  Astr..  I,  5,  p.  293,  the  description  of 
Galatee,  which  is  typical :  "  le  desiray  .  .  .  que  vous  eussiez  veu  .  .  . 
cette  belle  dont  les  cheveux  au  gre  du  vent  s'alloient  rescrepans  en 
ondes  n'estans  couuerts  que  d'vn  chappeau  de  Verueine,  ce  bras  nud, 
&  ceste  iambe  blanche  comme  I'albastre,  le  tout  gras  et  poly,  en  sorte 
qu'il  n'y  auoit  point  d'apparences  d'os,  la  greue  longue  &  droicte,  &  le 
pied  petit  &  mignard  qui  faisoit  honte  a  ceux  de  Tetis."  The  latter 
trait  comes  directly  from  Ronsard's  6legie  a  Janet :  "  Portrais-luy  de 
Thetis — 'Les  pieds  estroits  et  les  talons  petits."  Also  the  Ode  a  la 
Fontaine  Bellerine  may  have  inspired  Urfe.  Further  Astr.,  II,  8,  p. 
596  ff.,  the  most  important  passage  (cf.  below,  p.  14)  and  the  three 
rather  suggestive  scenes  in  which  Celadon,  disguised  as  the  druidess 
Alexis,  witnesses  the  "leves"  and  the  "couches"  of  his  sweetheart: 
Astr.,  Ill,   10,  p.  939;  ib..  p.   1025,  and  Astr.,  IV.  i,  p.  52.     Note  also 


84  ^^-i  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

and  they,  in  their  turn,  at  least  in  two  instances,  were  per- 
haps not  without  influence  on  La  Fontaine. 

Two  examples  of  this  tradition  occur  in  Psyche.  One 
of  them  was  suggested  by  Apuleius'  description  of  sleeping 
Cupid,  with  his  golden  curls  and  his  "  soft  feathers  shed 
about  his  shoulders  like  shining  flowers."  ^  Similarly  La 
Fontaine  in  a  very  prccicux  poem,  gives  a  systematic  des- 
cription of  the  god,  and  in  a  passage  in  prose  describes 
his  attitude  during  his  fatal  sleep.  This  example  illustrates 
how  La  Fontaine,  throughout  the  novel,  endeavors  to 
adapt  his  mythology  "  a  I'usage  des  ruelles,"  as  AL  Hemon 
puts  it. 

The  second  instance,  which  occurs  at  the  end  of  the 
second  book,  is  more  interesting  from  our  point  of  view ; 
it  has  no  counterpart  in  Apuleius.  Psyche,  blackened  by 
the  "  vapeur  fuligineuse  "  of  the  supposed  cosmetic  which 
she  had  brought  back  from  the  Nether  World,,  has  retired 
to  a  cavern  in  a  thick  forest.  There  she  is  spied  out  by 
Cupid : 

Un  jour  Psyche  s'etait  endormie  a  I'entree  de  sa  caverne. 
Elle  etait  couchee  sur  le  cote,  le  visage  tourne  vers  la  terre,  son 
mouchoir  dessus,  et  encore  un  bras  sur  le  mouchoir,  pour  plus 
grande  precaution,  pour  s'empecher  plus  assurement  d'etre 
vue.  Si  elle  edt  pu  s'envelopper  de  tenebres,  elle  I'aurait  fait. 
L'autre  bras  etait  couche  le  long  de  la  cuisse ;  il  n'avait  plus  la 
meme  rondeur  qu'autrefois;  ...  la  delicatesse  et  la  blancheur 

Hylas'  description  of  Chryseide  in  the  chariot  (Astr.,  Ill,  7,  p.  593), 
and  his  curious  dissertation  on  the  ideal  of  beauty  in  different  coun- 
tries (Astr.,  IV,  2,  p.  124)  ;  Thorante's  admiring  comment  upon  Del- 
phire  (Astr.,  IV,  6,  p.  508),  and  Dorinde's  description  of  her  pictur- 
esque attire  as  a  huntress  (Astr.,  IV,  7,  p.  649).  Examples  of  ugliness 
are  the  "chevalier  More"  (Astr.,  I,  6,  p.  408).  and  the  witch  Man- 
drague.  "  le  laid  en  perfection"  (Astr.,  I,  11,  3e  tab.). 

'  A  p.  Met.,  V,  p.  22,  and  Gr.  £cr.,  VIII,  p.  102. 


"LES  AMOURS  DE  PSYCHE  ET  DE  CUPIDON"  g^ 

y  etaient  toujours.  L'Amour  Tapperqut  de  loin.  II  sentit  un 
tressaillement  qui  lui  dit  que  cette  personne  etait  Psyche.  Plus 
il  approchait  et  plus  il  se  confirmait  dans  ce  sentiment ;  car 
quelle  autre  qu'elle  aurait  une  taille  si  bien  formee?  Quand 
il  se  trouva  assez  pres  pour  considerer  le  bras  et  la  main,  il 
n'en  douta  plus.  .  .  .  Un  amant  que  nos  romanciers  auraient 
fait,  serait  demeure  deux  heures  a  considerer  I'objet  de  sa 
passion  sans  I'oser  toucher  ni  seulement  interrompre  son  som- 
meil :  I'Amour  s'y  prit  d'une  autre  maniere.  II  s'agenouilla 
d'abord  aupres  de  Psyche  et  lui  souleva  une  main,  laquelle  il 
etendit  sur  la  sienne ;  puis,  usant  de  I'autorite  d'un  Dieu  et  de 
celle  d'un  mari,  il  y  imprima  deux  baisers  .  .  .  dont  la  chaleur 
lui  faisait  connaitre  que  c'etait  un  veritable  baiser  d'amour,  et 
non  un  baiser  de  simple  galanterie.^ 

We  may  compare  this  passage  with  an  episode  in  the 
Astree,  in  which  Celadon  surprises  his  sweetheart  sleeping 
in  the  woods — one  of  the  prettiest  scenes  in  the  whole 
novel."  The  author,  usually  hidden  in  objectivity,  shows 
here  a  frank  sympathy  for  his  poor  hero ;  the  style  is  at 
its  very  best : 

Tout  a  coup  Celadon  apperceut  Astree.  Elle  auoit  vn 
mouschoir  dessus  les  yeux  qui  luy  cachoit  vne  partie  du  visage, 
vn  bras  sous  la  teste,  &  l autre  estendu  le  long  de  la  cuisse,  &  le 
cottillon  vn  pen  retrousse  par  mesgarde,  ne  cachoit  pas  en- 
tierement  la  beaute  de  la  iambe :  &  d'autant  que  son  corps  de 
iuppe  la  serroit  vn  peu,  elle  s'estoit  delassee,  &  n'auoit  rien  sur 
le  sein  qu'vn  mouschoir  de  reseul,  au  trailers  duquel  la  blan- 
cheur  de  sa  gorge  paroissoit  merueilleusement ;  du  bras  qu'elle 
auoit  sous  la  teste,  on  voyoit  la  manche  anallee  iusques  sous  le 
coude,  permettant  ainsi  la  veue  d'vn  bras  blanc  &  potele,  dont 
les  veines  pour  la  delicatesse  de  la  peau  par  leur  couleur  bleue 

1  Gr.  £cr.,  VIII,  pp.  220-221. 
^Astree,  II,  8,  p.  596  ff. 


86  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

descouuroient  leurs  diuers  passages.^  Et  quoy  que  de  cette 
main  elle  tint  sa  coiffure  qui  la  nuict  s'estoit  destachee,  si  est- 
ce  que  pour  la  serrer  trop  negligemment,  vne  partie  de  ses 
cheveux  s'estoit  esparse  sur  la  joue,  &  I'autre  prise  a  quelques 
ronces  qui  estoient  voisines.  O  I  quelle  veue  f  ut  celle-cy  pour 
Celadon !  II  fut  tellement  surpris,  qu'il  demeura  immobile 
sans  poulx,  &  sans  haleine,  &  n'y  auoit  en  luy  autre  signe  de 
vie  que  le  battcment  du  coeiir,  &  la  veue  qui  sembloit  estre 
attachee  sur  ce  beau  visage.  ]Mais  il  luy  aduint  lors  comme  a 
ces  personnes  qui  ont  longuement  demeure  dans  les  profondes 
tenebres.  &  qui  sont  tout  a  coup  portees  aux  plus  clairs  rayons 
du  Soleil :  car  tout  ainsi  qu'elles  demeurent  esblouyes  par  trop 
de  clarte,  de  mesme  pour  auoir  trop  de  contentement,  il  n'en 
pouuoit  iouyr  d'vn  seul,  les  ayant  eus  tout  a  coup  &  venant  de 
quitter  I'obscurite  de  ses  desplaisirs.  Quelque  temps  apres, 
ayant  repris  vn  peu  plus  de  force,  il  commengoit  de  considerer 
ce  qu'il  voyoit,  tantost  regardant  ce  visage  ayme,  tantost  le 
sein,  de  qui  les  thresors  ne  luy  auoient  iamais  este  si  des- 
couuerts,  &  sans  se  pouuoir  saouler  de  considerer  toutes  ces 
beautez,  il  eust  voulu  comme  vn  nouuel  Argus,  auoir  le  corps 
tout  couuert  d'yeux.^ 

Now  a  struggle  begins  in  the  soul  of  Celadon,  who  is 
mindful  of  Astree's  command  never  to  appear  before  her 
eyes  again.     Sophistically  he  beguiles  his  conscience : 

Elle  ne  m'a  pas  commande  de  ne  la  voir  point:  car  des  lors 
ie  me  fusse  priue  de  mes  yeux,  mais  seulement  que  ie  ne  me 
fisse  point  voir  a  elle.^ 

»  Cf.  Orl.  Fur.,  VII,  st.  15: 

Mostran  le  braccia  sua  misura  giusta; 
E  la  Candida  man  spessa  si  vede 
Lunghetta  alquanto  e  di  larghezza  angusta, 
Dove  ne  nodo  appar,  ne  vena  eccede. 

*  Cf.  Orl.  Fur.,  VII,  st.  14:  "  Non  potria  altre  parti  veder  Argo  ",  and 
Asir.,  IV,  I,  p.  54:  Ses  yeux  desiroient  que  tout  Celadon  fut  comme 
un  autre  Argus,  couuert  de  diuerses  yeux,  pour  mieux  pouuoir  con- 
templer  tant  de  parfaites  raretez. 

*  Cf   above,  ch.  Ill,  p.  22,  n.  i. 


"LES  AMOURS  DE  PSYCHE  ET  DE  CUPIDON"  8" 

Finally  he  writes  a  letter  which  he  deftly  tries  to  remit  to 
her: 

II  se  remet  sur  vn  genouil,  &  s'approchant  de  sa  belle  main  no 
peust  s'empescher  de  la  luy  baiser,  puis  auangant  la  iambe,  & 
trainant  I'autre  doucement,  luy  mit  sa  lettre  dans  le  sein,  & 
transporte  d'amour  ne  se  peut  garder  d'accompagner  sa  main 
de  sa  bouche.  O  perdu  berger!  quel  fut  alors  le  transport 
qui  en  te  relevant  te  porta  iusques  a  sa  bouche.  II  fut  tel 
enfin  qu'oubliant  presque  la  crainte  qu'il  auoit  eue  de  I'esueiller, 
il  appuya  de  sorte  dessus,  que  la  Bergere  donna  signe  de 
s'esueiller,  &  commengoit  d'ouurir  les  yeux  lors  qu'il  s'estoit  a 
peine  releue. 

The  only  thing  left  to  poor  Celadon  is  to  withdraw  as 
quickly  as  possible. 

If  we  consider  this  charming  episode  side  by  side  with 
the  passage  quoted  from  the  second  book  of  Psyche,  a 
striking  resemblance  appears  at  once,  as  far  as  the  situa- 
tion is  concerned.  Especially  the  kiss  on  the  ami  occurs 
in  both  scenes.  If  Urfe,  unlike  La  Fontaine,  says  nothing 
about  its  *'  chaleur,"  he  mentions  this  detail  in  a  later  pas- 
sage, in  which  Sylvandre  kisses  Diana's  hand,  "  ce  qu'il  fit 
auec  tant  de  contentement  &  de  transport,  que  la  Bergere 
cogneut  bien  (si  elle  ne  I'auoit  point  fait  encore)  que  ce 
n'estoit  point  vn  baiser  qui  procedast  d'vne  feinte  affec- 
tion." ^ 

While  La  Fontaine  in  the  passage  quoted  mocks  at  novel- 
ists who  would  have  their  heroes  stand  in  awe  before  their 
ladyloves  for  hours,  we  find  this  very  trait  in  the  seventh 
fragment  of  the  Songe  de  Vaux.  La  Fontaine  introduces 
himself  as  Acanthe,  staring  for  a  long  time  at  the  sleeping 
Aminte  (=  the  duchess  of  Bouillon)  and  not  daring  to 
awake  her : 

Dans  la  plus  large  de  ces  allees,  j'apperqois  de  loin  une 
*  Astr.,  Ill,  9,  p.  891. 


88  ^^  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

nymphe.  ce  me  semblait,  couchee  sous  iin  arbre,  en  la  posture 
d'une  personne  qui  dort  .  .  .  Quand  je  fus  assez  pres  de  ce 
rare  objet  pour  le  reconnaitre,  je  trouvai  que  c'etait  Aminte, 
sur  qui  le  Sommeil  avait  repandu  le  plus  doux  charme  de  ses 
pavots.  Certes,  mon  etonnement  ne  fut  pas  petit,  mais  ma 
joie  fut  encore  plus  grande.  Cette  belle  nymphe  etait  couchee 
sur  des  plantes  de  violettes ;  sa  tcte  a  demi  penchee  sur  un  de 
ses  bras,  et  I'autre  ctendii  le  long  de  sa  jupe.  Ses  manches. 
qui  s'etaient  un  pen  retroussces  par  la  situation  que  le  sommeil 
lui  avait  fait  prendre,  me  decouvraient  a  moitie  ces  bras  si  polis. 
Je  ne  sus  a  laquelle  de  leurs  beautes  donner  I'avantage,  a 
leur  forme  ou  a  leur  blancheur,  bienque  cette  derniere  fit  lioiite 
a  I'albdtre.  Ce  ne  fut  pas  le  seul  tresor  que  je  decouvris  en 
cette  merveilleuse  personne.  Les  Zephirs  avaient  detourne 
de  dessus  son  sein  une  partie  du  linomple  qui  le  couvrait,  et 
s'y  jouaient  quelquefois  parmis  les  ondes  de  ses  cheveux. 
Quelquesfois  aussi,  comme  ils  eussent  voulu  m'obliger,  ils  les 
repoussaient.  .  .  .  En  vain  j'emploierais  tout  ce  qu'il  y  a 
de  lis  et  de  roses;  en  vain  je  chercherais  des  comparaisons 
jusques  dans  les  astres :  tout  cela  est  faible  et  ne  peut  repre- 
senter  qu'imparfaitement  les  charmes  de  cette  beaute  divine. 
Je  les  considerai  longtemps  avec  des  transports  qui  ne  peuvent 
s'imaginer  que  par  ceux  qui  aiment.^ 

Then  a  struggle  begins  in  Acanthe's  heart :  he  would  like 
to  kiss  her,  but  dares  not,  lest  he  might  offend  her;  finally 
the  song  of  a  nightingale  awakens  Aminte. 

In  this  scene  everything  recalls  the  episode  of  the  As- 
tree.  The  action  is  practically  alike  in  both ;  the  sleeping 
attitude  of  Astrce  and  Aminte  is  the  same,  and  even  a  few 
details  in  the  expression  are  identical.^  But  La  Fontaine 
adds  to  Urfe's  figures  of  speech  a  certain  hyperbolism  of 
comparison,  in  which  he  had  already  indulged  in  Clymene, 

'  Gr.  flcr.,  VIII,  p.  285  ff. 

'  Compare  the  passages  in  italics  with  our  quotations  from  Astr.,  II, 
8,  p.  596  ff.,  and  Astr.,  I,  5,  p.  293,  given  above,  pp.  85  and  83,  n.  5. 


"LES  AMOURS  DE  PSYCHU  ET  DE  CUFIDOX"  89 

in  an  almost  parallel  scene/  This  graceful  abuse  of  pre- 
ciosity produces  a  discreetly  comical  effect;  but  it  has  as 
little  satirical  intention  as  the  broad  burlesque  which  we 
found  in  the  Fiancee.  ' 

V. 

Besides  these  descriptions  of  art  and  of  physical  beauty, 
the  two  motives  which  connect  Psyche  with  the  tradition 
of  earlier  novels  in  the  genre  of  the  Astree,  we  find  another 
scene  which  bears  a  most  striking  resemblance  to  an  inci- 
dent in  Urfe's  pastoral.  It  is  the  long  episode  of  Psyche's 
stay  with  the  old  fisherman,  which  has  no  counterpart  in 
Apuleius.  It  is  difficult,  however,  to  come  to  any  definite 
conclusion  as  to  La  Fontaine's  indebtedness.  We  shall  see 
that  Urfe  himself  goes  back  to  two  Italian  sources,  Ariosto 
and  Tasso,  both  great  favorites  of  La  Fontaine,  from  whom 
he  might  well  have  drawn  directly.  His  own  statement 
that  it  is  "  un  episode  de  moi,"  ^  may  be  disregarded,  as  he 
makes  the  same  assertion  concerning  the  description  of  the 
Nether  World,  which  is  largely  imitated  from  the  classics. 

This  interesting  episode  of  the  Astree*  runs  as  follows: 

^  V.  587  ff.  See  Gr.  £cr.,  VII,  p.  178,  where  the  two  scenes  are  com- 
pared. 

2  Besides  the  passages  quoted  from  Psyche,  Songe  de  Vaux  and  Cly- 
mene,  one  may  also  compare  the  description  of  the  beauty  of  Venus  in 
Adonis  (v.  67  ff.)  and  of  the  "bergere"'  in  the  Fleuve  Scamandre 
{C antes,  V,  2,  v.  47  ff.).  For  a  comical  parallel  between  Amarante 
and  the  spring,  see  the  letter  to  Vergier  of  June  4,  1688  {Gr.  &cr.,  IX, 
p.  424  ff.)  ;  similarly  the  lamentabile  carmen  in  the  letter  to  the  prince 
of  Conti  of  July,  1689  {Gr.  £cr.,  IX,  p.  427  ff.).  Occasional  short 
comparisons  like  "bras  d'ivoire",  etc.,  occur  frequently.  See  L'Ermite 
Contes,  V,  15)  v.  160,  and  note,  in  Gr.  £cr.,  IV,  p.  477. 

'  Preface  to  Psyche,  Gr.  Ecr.,  VIII,  p.  21  and  note  2. 

*  Astr.,  IV,  7,  pp.  750-760,  in  the  Hist,  de  Dorinde,  du  Roy  Gonde- 
baut  &  du  Prince  Sigismond. 


90 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 


Dorinde,  in  her  flight  from  Lyons  to  the  Forez,  seeks  her 
way  through  terrible  woods,  in  the  dark  night,  frightened 
at  the  least  noise  or  gust  of  wind.  As  the  second  night  ao- 
proaches,  she  sees  a  little  hut  with  a  thatched  roof  and 
boldly  enters.  Here  she  finds  an  old  man,  surrounded  by  six 
little  children  to  whom  he  is  distributing  milk  for  their 
evening  meal.  The  children  approach  Dorinde  without 
fear  and  heartily  invite  her  to  share  their  frugal  meal. 
The  old  man  repeats  the  invitation  and  offers  her  shelter 
for  the  night.  Seeing  her  distress,  he  tries,  in  a  long 
speech,  to  comfort  her  and  to  inspire  her  with  con- 
fidence in  the  good  gods.  He  gives  her  his  own  bed  and 
accommodates  himself  on  the  straw  with  the  children.  The 
next  day  he  leads  her  by  rough  sidepaths  to  the  near  Forez. 
and  from  a  mountain  shows  her  "  ceste  delectable  plaine. 
le  plus  beau  lieu  de  I'Europe."  She  thanks  him  kindly, 
and  on  departing,  gives  him  one  of  her  rings.  ^ 

The  corresponding  scene  in  Psyche  occurs  at  the  begin- 

*  M.  Germa  first  pointed  out  that  the  direct  source  for  this  episode 
is  Ariosto's  Orl.  Fur.,  XIX,  st.  23  ff.  (Germa,  /.  c,  p.  119)  :  Angelica, 
during  her  wanderings,  finds  shelter  in  the  "  assai  buona  e  bella 
stanza "  oi  the  "  cortese  pastor ''.  and  presents  him,  on  leaving  his 
hospitable  house,  with  the  precious  bracelet  Orlando  had  given  to  her. 
But  Urfe  has  enlarged  upon  his  model  considerably.  While  in  Ariosto 
Angelica's  love  to  Medoro  takes  our  principal  interest,  and  the  shep- 
herd and  his  wife  are  only  secondary  figures,  the  kind  old  man  in  the 
Astree  assumes  the  important  character  of  Dorinde's  adviser  and  con- 
soler. Pio  Rajna  (Fonti  dell'Orl.  Fur.,  Florence,  1876,  p.  172)  shows 
that  Angelica's  pastoral  adventure  must  be  considered  as  one  of  the 
sources  for  a  similar  episode  in  Tasso's  Ger.  Lib.,  VII,  st.  1-22 :  On 
her  wanderings  Erminia  is  likewise  received  by  a  "  pietoso  pastor " 
and  his  "antica  moglie".  Urfe  also  certainly  knew  this  passage.  La 
Fontaine  shows  a  great  similarity  with  Tasso's  version  in  two  details : 
both  his  "  vieillard  "  and  Tasso's  shepherd  formerly  occupied  positions 
at  royal  courts — though  of  very  different  rank;  both  Psyche  and  Er- 
minia's  sorrows  are  vented  in  touching  complaints  and  "  cut  into  a 
thousand  trees".  The  latter  trait,  besides  being  a  commonplace,  also 
occurs  in  Ariosto. 


I 


"LES  AMOURS  DE  PSYCHS  ET  DE  CUPIDON"  gi 

ning  of  the  second  book/  Psyche,  fleeing  before  the  spies 
of  Venus,  asks  help  and  shelter  from  an  old  fisherman, 
whose  forehead  is  full  of  wrinkles  "  dont  la  plus  jeune 
etait  presque  aussi  ancienne  que  le  deluge."  A  difficult 
path  leads  to  the  old  man's  domicile,  a  natural  grotto 
in  the  rocks.  In  this  cavern  he  lives  with  his  two  grand- 
daughters, young  shepherdesses  of  remarkable  beauty. 
Psyche,  tired  by  her  wanderings,  reposes  on  the  couch  of 
the  daughters  and  afterwards  has  a  long  conversation  with 
the  old  man,  who  tells  her  his  life-story  and  consoles  her 
as  best  he  can.  Psyche  tarries  a  whole  week  with  her 
friendly  hosts;  then  they  leave  the  place  together,  as  the 
old  man  wants  to  settle  for  the  rest  of  his  life  in  a  near 
town.  Psyche  urges  him  to  accept  her  gown  studded  with 
precious  stones  as  a  dowry  for  the  girls,  but  he  proudly 
refuses. 

There  are  two  points  especially  which  justify  a  parallel 
between  the  two  scenes,  in  spite  of  the  possibility  that 
both  authors  drew  independently  from  the  aforesaid  Italian 
sources.  The  first  is  the  general  resemblance  in  the  situa- 
tion :  a  poor  maiden,  persecuted  by  a  powerful  enemy,  finds 
shelter  and  consolation  in  the  hut  of  a  wise,  hospitable  old 
man,  who,  quite  alone,  takes  care  of  his  little  children 
or  grandchildren.  Second,  we  have  the  sympathetic  figure 
of  La  Fontaine's  fisherman.  He  resembles  not  only  Urfe's 
worthy  old  man,  but  personifies,  in  a  less  dignified  fashion, 
all  the  characters  of  the  Astrec  who  have  retired  from  the 
tunnoil  of  life  to  the  quietness  of  solitude.  Once  our  fisher- 
man was  also  engaged  in  worldly  affairs,  being  the  first 
philosopher  of  the  king.  He  had  only  one  daughter  who, 
on  the  sudden  death  of  her  very  jealous  husband,  is  left 
alone  with  two  little  children.  In  order  to  spare  her  the 
persecutions  of  importunate  suitors,  her  father  flees  with 

'  Gr.  tcr.,  VIII,  pp.   136-164. 


92 


LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 


her  into  a  desert;  but  even  there  they  cannot  find  the  peace 
they  long  for.  Finally  Philosophy  herself  appears  to  the 
old  man  in  a  dream  and  reveals  to  him,  in  a  wilderness  al- 
most inaccessible,  the  cavern  in  the  rocks.  Thither  he  re- 
tires with  his  grandchildren  and  his  daughter,  who  dies  soon 
afterwards,  and  there  he  lives  happily  ever  after.  This 
recalls  at  once  Alcippe,  Celadon's  father,  who  in  like  man- 
ner follows  the  voice  of  a  good  spirit  and  retires  to  the 
simple  pastoral  life.^ 

But  while  the  subject  matter  of  the  two  episodes  shows  such 
a  great  resemblance,  their  style  is  entirely  different.  Urfe's 
scene  is  channing  in  its  simplicity;  it  depicts  an  idyl  such 
as  the  author  may  often  have  seen  in  his  native  country.^ 
On  the  contrary,  the  tone  of  La  Fontaine's  episode,  in  spite 
of  some  very  amusing  and  characteristic  details,  is  a  little 
artificial.  This  appears  especially  in  the  story  of  the  fisher- 
man. Even  the  longing  for  quietude,  which  elsewhere  in- 
spires La  Fontaine  with  his  loftiest  lines,  is  treated  here  in 
a  style  of  badinage  and  is  intentionally  blended  with  comic 
motives,  like  that  of  the  importunate  suitors. 

VL 

Besides  these  main  points  of  similarity,  there  is  a  last 
theme  in  La  Fontaine's  episode  which  represents  a  famous 
convention  of  the  pastoral  novel  and  especially  of  the 
Astree:  the  lengthy  conversations  on  questions  of  love. 
Following  this  tradition.  La  Fontaine  introduces  the  amus- 
ing conversation  of  the  two  shepherdesses,  who  discuss  the 

'  Cf.  above,  ch.  V,  p.  54. 

*  This  idyl  may  be  considered  as  representing  the  tendency  toward 
a  more  realistic  kind  of  novel,  of  which  Guillaume  Coste  had  already 
given  an  example  in  his  Bergeries  de  Vesper  (1618).  Cf.  W.  Kuech- 
ler's  article  in  Arch.  f.  d.  Stud.  d.  Neuer.  Spr.,  Bd.  27  (Neue  Serie), 
p.  115  ff. 


"LES  AMOURS  DE  PSYCHE  ET  DE  CUPIDOX" 


93 


difficult  problem :  what  is  a  lover  ?  Psyche  overhears  the 
conversation  and  explains  to  them  the  "  passion  dont  les 
peines  memes  sont  des  plaisirs."  She  also  gives  them  good 
advice,  and  virtuous  Sylvandre  had  no  cause  to  be  ashamed 
of  it :  "  Ce  que  vous  avez  a  faire  est  de  bien  choisir,  et  de 
bien  choisir  une  fois  pour  toutes :  une  fille  qui  n'aime  qu'en 
un  endroit  ^  ne  saurait  etre  blamee,  pourvu  que  I'honnetete, 
la  discretion,  la  prudence  soient  conductrices  de  cette  af- 
faire, et  pourvu  qu'on  garde  les  bornes  " — only  here  Syl- 
vandre would  protest :  "  c'est-a-dire  qu'on  f  asse  semblant 
d'en  garden"  " 

While  Psyche  here  follows  more  or  less  in  Sylvandre's 
footsteps,  she  altogether  opposes  his  arguments  in  a  later 
passage.  After  having  lost  her  beauty,  she  herself  dis- 
suades Cupid  from  loving  her  any  longer.  For  she  is  not 
like  "  la  plupart  des  femmes  [qui]  prennent  le  Ciel  a  temoin 
quand  cela  arrive :  elles  disent  qu'on  doit  les  aimer  pour 
elles,  et  non  pas  pour  le  plaisir  de  les  voir;  qu'elles  n'ont 
point  d'obligation  a  ceux  qui  cherchent  seulement  a  se 
satisfaire;  que  cette  sorte  de  passion  qui  n'a  pour  objet  que 
ce  qui  touche  les  sens  ne  doit  point  entrer  dans  une  belle 
ame,  et  est  indigne  qu'on  y  reponde :  c'est  aimer  comme 
aiment  les  animaux,  au  lieu  qu'il  faudrait  aimer  comme  les 
esprits  detaches  du  corps."  ^ 

This  reminds  us  indeed  of  many  an  argument  between 
Hylas  and  Sylvandre.  The  latter  continuously  holds  "  que 
ce  n'est  pas  le  corps  qui  aime,  mais  I'ame  ...,"*  "  que  la 
nature  nous  a  seulement  donne  les  sens  pour  instrumens  par 
lesquels  nostre  ame  receuant  les  especes  des  choses  vient  a 

1(7/.  Urfe's  second  "  loy  d'amour ".     "Qu'il    (^le  parfait   Amant) 
n'aime  iamais  qu'en  vn  lieu."    Astr.,  II,  5,  p.  326. 
»  Gr.  £cr.,  VIII,  p.  158. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  224.  I 

*  Astr.,  II,  6,  p.  474. 


C)4  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR£E" 

leur  connoissance,  mais  nullement  pour  compagnons  de  ses 
plaisirs  &  felicitez,  comme  trop  incapables  d'vn  si  grand 
bien  .  .  .  "  ^  But  Hylas  declares  all  this  for  "  fables  auec 
lesquelles  les  femmes  endorment  les  moins  rusez."  ^  With 
surprising  sophistry  he  shows  that  not  only  he  is  a  constant 
lover,  but  that  all  who  continue  to  love  a  "  sujet  "  who  has 
lost  her  beauty  are  guilty  of  inconstancy:  "Pour  n'estre 
inconstant,  il  faut  aimer  tousiours  &  en  tous  lieux  la  beaute, 
&  lors  qu'elle  se  separe  de  quelque  sujet.  on  s'en  doit  de 
mesme  separer  d'amitie,  de  peur  de  n'aimer  le  contraire  de 
cette  beaute."  ^ 

1  Astr..  II,  I,  pp.  19-20. 

'  Astr.,  II,  6,  p.  472.  One  easily  recognizes  in  these  theories  Platonic 
ideas  which  still  linger  through  the  Astree.  The  votaries  of  Venus 
Pandemos  seek  the  body  rather  than  the  soul,  while  Uranian  love  in- 
spires man  with  pure  affection,  exempting  him  from  wantonness  and 
libertinism ;  cf.  Banquet,  Pausanias'  speech,  and  A.  Lefranc,  Le  Pla- 
tonisme  en  France  au  i6e  S.,  in  Rev  d'Hist.  Litt.  de  la  Fr.,  Vol.  Ill 
(1896). 

'  Astr.,  II,  4,  p.  224.  La  Rochefoucauld  went  still  a  step  further  in 
his  Maxime  175,  defining  love  as  "  une  inconstance  perpetuelle  qui  fait 
que  notre  coeur  s'attache  successivement  a  toutes  les  qualites  de  la 
personne  que  nous  aimons." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Conclusion. 

If,  in  summing  up  the  preceding  chapters,  we  consider 
the  question  of  La  Fontaine's  Hterary  relations  to  the 
Astree  from  a  chronological  point  of  view,  we  find  that 
these  relations  are  specially  close,  both  in  substance  and 
form,  in  La  Fontaine's  earlier  works.  In  proportion  as 
he  becomes  more  and  more  conscious  of  his  own  genius, 
similarities  in  form  cease  almost  completely,  while  the  sub- 
stance, the  "  message "  of  the  Astree  remains  an  ever 
favorite  theme  with  our  poet. 

In  detail :  Besides  his  translation  of  Terence's  Eunuchus 
(published  in  1654),  the  Ronsard-inspired  elegies  '  and  the 
beautiful  Adonis  with  its  passionate  "  heroic  "  style — both 
of  uncertain  date, — nothing  of  La  Fontaine's  poetic  activ- 
ity can  be  traced  with  certainty  before  the  year  1658  or 
thereabouts,  when  he  was  received  at  Vaux.  At  that  time 
we  find  him  imitating  a  certain  scene  of  the  Astree  in  the 
Songe  de  Vaux  and  in  Clymene.  In  1665  and  1666  the 
first  and  second  parts  of  the  Contes  appear,  in  which  other 
literary  currents  predominate,  although,  as  we  tried  to  show 
by  the  example  of  the  Fiancee  du  Roi  de  Garbe,  pastoral 
and  chivalrous  motives  are  always  present  to  the  poet's 
mind.     At  this  time  also  we  have  to  place  the  preliminary 

^  Though  these  elegies  (II-V)  contain  certain  autobiographical  de- 
tails (cf.  Gr.  £cr.,  I,  p.  xli-xlii),  they  seem  to  be  in  parts  a  very  free 
imitation  of  Ronsard's  elegies  III  and  IV  (=^Discours  amoureux  de 
Genevre,  CEuvres  de  Ronsard,  ed.  Blanchemain,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  220-238). 

95 


g6  LA  FONTAINE  AND  THE  "ASTR6E" 

Studies  to  Les  Amours  de  Psyche  et  de  Cupidon,  interrupted 
by  the  publication  of  the  first  part  of  the  Fables  (1668), 
which  furnished  us  but  Httle  material.  In  1669  the  comple- 
tion of  Psyche  crowns  La  Fontaine's  conscious  efforts  to 
adapt  his  genius  to  the  long  novel  in  the  style  of  the  Astree, 
and  in  Psyche  wq  found  what  may  be  considered  our  most 
important  evidence  of  relationship  between  the  two  authors. 
But  while  Psyche,  on  one  hand,  marks  the  culminating 
point  of  Urfe's  "  direct  influence  "  on  La  Fontaine  (if  we 
dare  use  this  bold  expression),  it  is  also  the  last  work  to 
show  definite  borrowings  from  him.  if  we  except  the  opera 
Astree  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  the  Deux  Pigeons  as  a 
still  doubtful  parallel.  From  now  on.  La  Fontaine  is  quite 
sure  of  his  means;  he  becomes  more  and  more  independent; 
his  creative  power  is  growing,  and  with  the  second  collec- 
tion of  fables  (1678-1679)  he  reaches  the  height  of  his 
art.  But  the  apprenticeship  of  the  past  is  not  forgotten. 
Time  and  again  he  recurs  to  the  familiar  motives  of 
the  old  novels,  now  treating  them  with  delightful  irony, 
now  finding  in  them  inspiration  for  his  very  masterpieces. 
Needless  to  say  that  also  in  his  "  incorrigibles  rechutes  dans 
le  peche  des  contes  "  ^  and  in  his  voluminous  occasional 
poetry  which  connects  him,  as  M.  Lanson  remarks,"  with 
the  great  number  of  minor  fashionable  poets  of  his  time, 
playful  allusions  to  his  favorite  pastoral  or  more  or  less 
unconscious  reminiscences  of  its  well-known  themes  occur 
quite  frequently.  For  the  year  1690  or  1691  we  have  to 
assume  a  re-reading — at  least  in  parts — of  the  Astree,  pre- 
ceding the  composition  of  his  opera,  and  in  1693  follows 
the  last  book  of  the  fables,  which  in  its  sublime  epilogue, 
Le  juge  arbitre,  riiospitalier  et  le  solitaire,  sums  up  again 

•  Gr.  fi/cr.,  I,  p.  cxii. 

»  Hist,  de  la  Lilt.  I^ranc,  Paris,  1903,  8th  cd.,  p.  558. 


CONCLUSION  cfy 

what  we  have  found  to  be  the  real  gospel  of  both  La  Fon- 
taine and  the  Astrce,  "  ramour  de  la  retraite  "  : 

Cette  legon  sera  la  fin  de  ces  ouvrages. 
Puisse-t-elle  etre  utile  aux  siecles  a  venir! 
Je  la  presente  aux  rois,  je  la  propose  aux  sages: 
Par  ou  saurais-je  mieux  finir? 


INDEX 


NB:  All  references  to  La  Fontaine's  works  have  been  grouped  under 
"LA  FONTAINE",  and  all  quoied  characters  of  the  Astree  are  listed 
under  "URFE". 


Albalat,  35 
Amadis,  8,  9,  10,  70 
Aminta,  i,  2,  40,  70 
Apuleius,  72,,  74,  77,  83,  84,  89 
Arcadia,  68 
Arnould  d'Andilly,  57 
Arnould,  L.,  47 
Ariosto,  83,  89,  90 

Bachaumont,  57,  60 

Banti,  28 

Barbin,   y6 

Baro,  29,  68 

Benfey,  43 

Bernardin,  N.-M.,  49 

Betz,  L.  P.,  61 

Blanchemain,  82,  95 

Boccaccio,  51,  61  ff.,  72,  83 

Boileau,  3,  7,  35 

Bonafous,   31 

Bonnefon,  3 

Boucher,  81 

Bouhier,   35 

Bouillon,   duchess  of,  75,  82,  87 

Bracciolini,  74 

Brunetiere,  65 

Champsmesle,  29 
Chapelain,  i 
Chapelle.  7,  57,  60 
Chaulieu,   10,  57 
Chauvin,  43 


Colasse,  16,  32 
Corneille,  3,  21,  76 
Coste,  Guillaume,  92 
Coulanges,  10 

Deraine,  35 

Descartes,  82 

Deshoulieres,    Mme.   de,  9  ff.,   12, 

57 
Des  Marets,  3 
Diana,  i,  68 
Diderot,  82 
Doumic,  48,  56 
Du  Bellay,  8 
Ducange,  18 
Dunlop,  41 

Erdmann,  75 

Faguet,  34 
Fanfani,  63 
Fetis,  16 
Fiametta,   51 
Fischer,  3 
Fournel,  35 
Fragonard,  81,  82 
Friedlaender,  74 
Fulgentius,  75 

Gaulmain,  43 
Germa,  34,  81,  90 
Ceriisalemme  Liberate,  90 

99 


lOO 


INDEX 


Gouillon,  46 
Gruppe,  74 
Gueret,  76 
Guerin,  82 

Hemon,  73,  84 

Henry  IV,  2 

Horace,  53,  63 

Huet,  14  ff.,  35,  42,  65,  74 

Jahn,  73,  75 
Janet,  83 

Koerting,  H.,  78 
Kuechler,  92 

La  Bruyere,  16 

La  Fare,  10 

Lafenestre,  7,  34,  35,  62,  80 

La  Fontaine,  I :  Fables  (gen- 
eral), 36,  37-57,  58,  96 

L'Alouette  et  ses  petits  (IV, 
22),  48 

Les  Animaux  malades  de  la 
peste  (VII,  I),  38 

Le  Berger  et  la  mer  (IV,  2),  39 

Le  Berger  et  le  roi  (X,  9),  39, 

54,  55 
Le  Berger  et  son  troupeau  (IX, 

19),  39 
Le  Berger  qui  joue  de  la  flute 

(X,   10),  42 
Le  Chene  et  le  roseau   (I,  22), 

38 
Les  Compagnons  d'Ulysse  (XII, 

i),  41 
Le    Conseil    tenu    par    les    rats 

(II,  2),  38 
Centre    ceux    qui    ont    le    goiit 

difficile   (II,  i),  39,  42 
Damon  et  Alcimadure  (X,  24), 

41 
Les  Deux  Pigeons   (IX,  2),  42- 

47,  53,  96 


Discours  a  M.  de  La  Rochefou- 
cauld (X,  14),  48 
La  Foret  et  le  biicheron   (XII, 

14),  48 
L'Homme    qui    court    apres    la 

Fortune   (VII,  2),  53 
Le  Juge  arbitre,  I'hospitalier  et 

le  solitaire  (XII,  25),  55,  96 
Le  Lion  et  le  chasseur  (VI,  2), 

39 
Le    Loup    devenu    berger    (III, 

3),  39 
Le  Patre  et  le  lion  (VI,  i),  39 
Le     Songe     d'un     habitant     du 

Mogol   (XI,  4),  55 
Tircis     et     Amaranthe     (VIII. 

13),  40,  41 
La    Fontaine,    II :    Contes    (gen- 
eral), 6,  58  ff.,  76,  95 
Les  Amis  Remois  (III,  3),  6,  12 
L'Anneau  de  Hans  Carvel    (II, 

12),  6 
Le  Cas  de  conscience   (IV,  4), 

12 
La  Coupe  enchantee  (III,  4),  6, 

12,  26,  29 
Le    Diable    de    la    Papefiguiere 

(IV.  5),  60 
Le  Diable  a  I'enfer  (IV,  9),  60 
L'Ermite  (V,  15),  89 
Le  Faucon   (III,  5),  61 
A   Femme   avare  galant   escroc 

(II.  9),  60 
La  Fiancee  du  roi  de  Garbe  (II. 

14),  61  ff.,  95 
Le  Fleuve  Scamandre  (V,  2),  89 
Joconde  (I,  i),  55,  59 
Le  Magnifique   (IV,   15),  65 
Nicaise  (III,  7),  59 
L'Oraison  de  St.-Julien  (II,  5), 

65 
Pate  d'anguille  (IV,  11),  59 
Le  Petit  Chien   (III,  13),  61 
Le  Quiproquo  (V,  8),  12 


INDEX 


lOI 


Richard  Minutolo  (I,  2),  61,  65 

Les  Troqueurs  (IV,  3),  14,  60, 

61 

La  Fontaine,   III:  Miscellaneous 

Psyche,  6,   7  ff.,  24,  36,  55,  61, 

64,  69,  71,  73-94,  96 

Le  Songe  de   Vaux,  36,  55,  64, 

65,  71,  76,  77,  81,  82,  87,  89,  95 
Adonis,  34,  65,  69,  82,  95 

Z^j  F:7/^j  de  Minee,  61 
Philemon  et  Baucis,  31,  74 
Ballade  des  livres  d'amour,  5  ff. 
Ballade:  On  aime  encor  comme 

on  aimait  jadis,  9  ff. 
Ballet  sur  la  paix  de  Nimcgue, 

23  ff. 
Eclogue,  42 
Elegies,  44,  55,  61,  95 
Achille,  74 

Clymcne,  71,  88,  89,  95 
L'Eunuque,  95 
Operas :  Astree,  16  ff.,  96 
Daphne,   10,  31 
Galatee,  31 
Epitre  a  Huet,  14  ff.,  42,  65,  74 

a   Mme.  de  Fontange,  60 

fipithalame  pour  Mile,  de  Bour- 
bon et  le  Prince  de  Conti,  60 

Letters  to  his  wife,  6,  80 
Letter  to  the  Duchess  of  Bouil- 
lon, 82 

to    Mmes.    d'Hervart,    de 

Virville  et   de   Gouvernet,    i5 

to  Maucroix,  74 

to  the  Prince  of  Conti,  89 

to  Vergier,  89 

La  Fontaine,  Mile,  de,  80 

La  Harpe,  44 

Lanson,  65,  96 

La  Rochefoucauld,  41,  48,  94 

Laumonier,  68,  83 

Lefranc,  94 

Linieres,  10,  17 


Livet,  3,  10,  33,  34,  35 
Lorraine,  Claude,  81 
Lotheissen,  51 
Louis  XIV.,  18.  77 
LuUi,  16 

Mairet,  13,  25 

Malherbe,  63,  65 

Marechal,  30 

Marini,  75 

Marot,  33,  63 

Marsand,  25,  30 

Marron,  16 

Maucroix,  35,  57,  74 

Menghini,  74 

Mesnard,  7,  34,  76 

Michaut,  6,  35,  80 

Mignard,  82 

Moliere,  3,  7,  64,  65,  75,  76,  82 

Montegut,  61  ff. 

Montemayor,  68 

Nicole,  3 

Olivet   (abbe  d'),  33  ff.,  36 
Orlando  Furioso,  70,  83,  86,  go 
Ovid,   59 

Pellisson,  33 
Petrarch,  49,  60,  83 
Perrault,  Charles,  6 
Phaedrus,  42 
Pi  1  pay,  43 
Pintrel,  74 
Pisanello,  78 
Poussin,  81 

Quinault,  9 

Rabelais,  33 
Racan.  47,  53,  57 
Racine,  3,  7,  10,  S7 
Rajna,  90 


102 


INDEX 


Rayssiguier,  30 

Rebelliau,  16 

Regnier,  Henri,  5,  43,  74 

Regnier,  Mathurin,  O9 

Rennert,  68 

•Reure,  2,  3,  6,  8,  12,  13,  16,  34,  35, 

49,  52 
Reinach,  82 
Reynier,  75 
Rivoire,  25 

Ronsard,  46,  69,  82,  83,  95 
Rovere,  Guidobalda  della,  69 
Roy,  69 
Rudolph,  25 

Sabliere,  Mme.  de  la,  10 

Saint-Amand,  57 

Sainte-Beuve,  34,  43,  57,  74 

Saint-Gilles,  17 

Saint-Marc  Girardin,  34,  53 

Salesse,  35 

Salza,  40 

Schwarzhaupt,  10 

Scoto,  Lorenzo,  75 

Scudery,  Mile,  de,  2,  51 

Searles,  i 

Servois,  16 

Sevigne,  Mme.  de,  57 

Sidney,  68 

Sillery,  Mile,  de,  41 

Simmonds,  82 

Simon,  Dr.  Jules,  45 

Somaize,  2,  3,  lO 

Sorel,  8,  9,  16 

Souchay,  22 

Taine,  43  ff.,  76 
Tamizy  de  Larroque,  i 
Tasso,  2,  28,  40,  89,  90 
Terence,  95 
Teuffel,   74 
Thoulier,  see  Olivet. 
Thucydides,  44 
Tibullus,  44 


Toldo,  65 
Torraca,   65 

Uccello,  Paolo,  78 
URf£— ASTR£E: 
Adamas,  13,  49,  54,  78 
Alcippe,  39,  54,  55,  92 
Alexis,  83 
Amarylle,  39,  54 
Amerine,  66 
Aminte,  19  ff. 
Andrimarte,    68 
Astree,   18  ff..  39,  44  ff.,  68,  69, 

85  ff. 
Belinde,  2,  68 
Celadon,  6,  7,  9,  11,  12,  17,  18  ff., 

38,  39,  46,  53,  55,  68,  69,   70, 

83.  85  ff.,  92 
Celidee,  61 
Celion,  68 
Childeric,  68 
Chryseide,  84 
Circeine,  40,  55 
Clidamant,  27 
Climanthe,  24,  25 
Clorian,  40 
Damon,  48,  78  ff. 
Daphnide,  58 
Delie,  58 
Delphire.  51,  84 
Diane,  8,  30,  37,  38,  51,  52,  87 
Dorinde,  9,  60,  84,  89  ff. 
Dorisee,  51 
Eleumon,  50 
£r;canthe,  50 
Filinte,  3 
Fleurial,  58 
Florice,  3,  9,  55 
Fortune,  48,  78  ff. 
Galatee,  22  ff.,  58,  83 
Genseric,  11 
Gondebaut,  89 
Hylas,  I,  7  ff-,  II,  19  ff-,  58,  59. 

68,  70,  84,  93 


I 


♦ 


INDEX 


103 


Laonice,  39,  51,  52 
Leonidc,  22  ff.,  54,  61 
Lcrindas,  58 
Ligdamon,  66 
Lycidas,  52 
Madonte,  3 
Mandrague,  84 
Paris,  30 
Parthenope,  9 
Philandre,  58 
Philis,  19  ff.,  61 
Polemas,  25,  68,  69 
Rosanire,  3 
Semire,  19  ff. 
Sigismond,  3,  89 
Silvanire,  13 
Silviane,  68 
Silvie,  26,  2y 
Stelle,  30 


Sylvandre,  7  ff.,  27,  38,  39,  46, 

SI,  52,  59,  70,  87,  93,  94 
Thorante,  84 
Tircis,  3,  14,  29,  39,  51,  54 

Vanloo,  82 
Vergil,  31,  40,  53 
Vianey,  8,  83 
Villemain,  34 
Villifranchi,  2 
Voiture,  46,  63 
Vossler,  75 

Walckenaer,  9,  10,  13,  14,   16,   17, 

34,  35,  76 
Warr,  74 
Watteau,  81 
Wilson,  H.,  41 


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No.  4.  THE  LIFE  AND  WORKS  OF  CHRISTOBAL  DE  CAS- 
TELLEJO,  THE  LAST  OF  THE  NATIONALISTS  IN  CAS- 
TILIAN  POETRY.  By  Clara  Leonora  Nicolay,  Ph.D. 
Philadelphia,   1910.     Svo,  paper,  126  pp.     Price  $1.25,  net. 

No.  5.  LA  ESPANOLA  DE  FLORENCIA  [6  BURLAS  VERAS,  Y 
AMOR  INVENCIONERO].  COMEDIA  FAMOSA  DE  CALDE- 
RON  DE  LA  BARCA.  Edited,  with  Introduction  and  Notes, 
by  S.  L.  Millard  Rosenberg,  Ph.D.  Philadelphia,  1911. 
Svo,  cloth,  xlii  j-132  pp.     Price  $1.25,  net. 

No.  6.  THE  LITERARY  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  LA  FON- 
TAINE AND  THE  "ASTREE"  OF  HONORE  d'URFE. 
By  Walther  p.  Fischer,  Ph.D.  Philadelphia,  1913.  Svo, 
paper,  x  f  103  pp.     Price  $1.00,  net. 


Extra  Series  No.  i.  THE  SPANISH  PASTORAL  ROMANCES. 
By  Hugo  A.  Rennert,  Ph.D.  Philadelphia,  1912.  Svo, 
cloth,  206  pp.     Price  $1.50,  net. 

Extra  Series  No.  2.  LAS  BURLAS  VERAS.  COMEDIA  FA- 
MOSA DE  LOPE  DE  VEGA  CARPIO.  Edited,  with  an 
Introduction  and  Notes,  by  S.  L.  Millard  Rosenberg, 
Ph.D.  Philadelphia,  1912.  Svo,  cloth,  xlii+94  PP.  With 
four  fac-similes.     Price  $1.00,  net. 


Copies  of  these  books  may  be  obtained  by  addressing 

The  Department  of  Romanic  Languages  and  Literatures 

College  Hall,  University  of  Pennsylvania, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 


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